Calcio Fiorentino

Yesterday was a big day of walking, day drinking and sport - something that was likely to continue into today - so we decided to start things off slowly. We wanted to go back and see some of the things we had missed yesterday, as well as explore some of the other areas around Rome. We decided the best way to do this was on Lime scooters, and it turned out to be a revolutionary idea. I had spent endless hours walking everywhere previously, and while that hadn’t really been an issue in Florence, Rome was a different story. The city was so spread out that the scooters made getting around and seeing everything much easier. We could cover huge distances without exhausting ourselves and still stop whenever something caught our eye.

We went past the Colosseum again and managed to see all 360 degrees of it within a few minutes. From there, we made our way to the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, as well as Trajan’s Column and the other monuments around Piazza Venezia. Trajan’s Column was another bucket-list item for me. I’ve heard countless stories and podcasts about it over the years, so seeing it in person was an awesome experience. It’s one thing to hear about these historical monuments, but standing in front of them and seeing their scale and detail for yourself is something else entirely. We knew today was going to be another big day of both sightseeing and sport. Italy, and Florence in particular, is obviously famous for its history, but there was one small quirk I never expected to stumble across during my travels: Calcio Fiorentino.

Calcio Fiorentino is a sport dating back to the Middle Ages. I still don’t fully understand the rules, but based on the videos I had seen, it seemed to be essentially bare-knuckle boxing with a ball thrown into the mix. My tour guide had explained the sport to us during my tour of Florence, but at the time I had no idea the event was coming up so soon. The festival is held as part of the celebrations for Saint John the Baptist, with the streets of Florence filling with festivities and markets. It was something I would have loved to witness, but some minor changes to my travel plans meant I had missed it - although I didn’t even know about the holiday until my tour. Then, completely randomly, a violent video appeared on my phone. I immediately made the connection: this had to be the traditional sport my tour guide had told me about.

When I saw what the event actually involved, I had to check when it was being played. It was the very next day. And that day had arrived. I told Jack we had to find somewhere showing it, so we spent the first part of the day investigating pubs where it might be playing. We figured our best bet was the same Scottish pub where I had watched the State of Origin. Dad deserves another thank you for finding that pub in the first place, because it meant I got to watch both sporting events there. Unfortunately, when we arrived and asked about the game, none of the workers had even heard of it. Despite Calcio Fiorentino being a huge part of Florentine culture, apparently nobody in Rome knew anything about it. It did, however, reinforce something I had started noticing about Italy: many Italians seem to identify much more strongly with their individual city or region than with Italy as a whole. Nevertheless, they assured us that if they could find a way to play it, they would. After grabbing some lunch, we made our way back to the second day of the skateboarding competition.

This time, it was the semi-finals, so the skaters had stepped things up significantly. The women’s competition started in the afternoon, and we settled in with a few beers once again. We watched some absolutely unreal skating, including teenagers who were destroying the competition despite being so young. Eventually, the rain arrived. It was basically the first rain cloud we had seen the entire trip, and, as it turned out, it was perfectly timed. It gave us the opportunity to head back to the pub and attempt to watch the Calcio Fiorentino.

The sport did not disappoint. By this point, Jack and I were quite drunk. While most people were simply trying to enjoy an afternoon beer, we had essentially forced an entire section of the pub to watch what looked like organised street fighting while we yelled at the screen in the background. The poor group of French people sitting in front of us had absolutely no idea what was going on – but then again, neither did we. They tried asking us to explain the rules, but we probably had more questions than answers ourselves. At that point, though, we didn’t really care. We were just enjoying the moment. The game ended up being a bit of a blowout, which took some of the excitement away, but it would be a lie to say it wasn’t heated. Multiple fights had broken out before the ball had even properly entered the pitch, and one of the veterans of the sport was even sent off. To this day, I still don’t understand how you can get sent off in a sport that seems to have almost no rules. It was particularly significant because it was his final game before retirement. So, while it was obviously a sad way for him to finish his career, it must have fired up his teammates because they went on to absolutely destroy the opposition. The winning team was Santa Maria Novella - the exact area of Florence where I had stayed earlier in the trip. So naturally, I’m claiming them as my team. A win for them is a win for me.

After that, we made our way back to the skating for the men’s competition now that the rain had stopped. To one-up my photo with Chris Joslin from yesterday, Jack and I managed to get a photo with Nyjah Huston - the best skater of the last decade. This was just before he went on to absolutely destroy the competition during another incredible day of skating. With some more drinking throughout the afternoon, we were both completely pissed by the end of it and ready to head home. It was just the two of us now, and neither of us had any intention of going out afterwards. We were more than ready for bed.
But right as we were leaving, we spotted Shane O’Neill walking out of the event. I immediately started fangirling and asked if we could get a photo with him. He said he would come back and get one with us. So we waited. And waited. And he never came back. :(

A slightly disappointing end to what had otherwise been an incredible day. We headed home, completely exhausted and drunk, and finally went to bed.Read more