Andy @ Chiacchierata Calcistica

Lucchese are latest in a long line of crisis-hit Tuscan clubs (Siena, Livorno, Grosseto, Pistoiese, etc).

At some point, all these clubs have been passed to a mysterious owner who fails to stump up running costs (or simply disappears).

Tuscany has 8 senior teams (Serie A to C). That's far too few.

Che risultato contro l'Hajduk. Trieste deve essere stata la città più cosmopolitana nel calcio.

Nel 1910 ci ha giocato il Dundee contro una squadra di origini tedeschi (l'Eintracht) e una austriaca/boema (Black Stars).

Sicuramente anche le popolazioni slovena e ebrea erano attive in quella epoca.

24 for 2024 graduates:
Alessio Castellini (Catania)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wearing the captain's armband and with 5 goals in the calendar year, Castellini has shifted to the heart of Catania's defence this season.

In hindsight, a summer move to Serie B might have benefitted him more than staying at underpar Catania

Andrea Santarcangelo (Picerno)
⭐⭐

It was hoped that Murano's departure would clear the centre-forward's path to the starting lineup. But he has featured little despite finishing last season well.

A loan to an ambitious Serie D club might do him good.

Antonio Fiori (Mantova)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Serie D with Vastogirardi just 18 months ago, the winger was a star man in Mantova's promotion to Serie B.

He has kept a starting berth this season. His 1 goal & 2 assists are less than his lively performances deserve.

24 for 2024 graduates:
Samuele Angori (Pontedera/Pisa)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

After a January move to Reggiana feel through, the wing-back saw out his loan in Tuscany before moving to Pisa in the summer.

Entrusted with a starting berth in recent week, his recent goal v Sampdoria should give him added confidence.

24 for 2024 graduates:
Christian Shpendi (Cesena)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Last season's Serie C joint top scorer (20 goals), this season he's top of the Serie B charts with 10 goals after 15 games.

Having just penned a new contract, the striker will be aiming to force his way into the Albania (or Italy?) squad.

So let's begin with a recap of our 2024 graduates, before we dive into the 25 for 2025.

For each player, I'll use a revolutionary "five-star" rating 🤯 to rate their development during 2024.

Feel free to agree or disagree. So here goes...

But first, a word on the 2024 cohort:

Many players on last year's list have graduated from this list (now over 21).

Others have reached Serie B (or A). Those who are still under 21 will keep their place on the list for 2025.

They will be topped up by players currently playing in Serie C or lower.

Serie C: 25 for 2025

Last December, on Twitter, I published my 24 under-21 lower league players to watch in 2024.

Some, like Cristian Shpendi, have enjoyed a wonderful 12 months.

Others, like Marios Chrysovergis, have literally gone AWOL.

"Il volo dell'angelo", primo libro di Camarda: «Racconto Iacovone e la vita che non visse» Volare era nei suoi talenti. Riusciva ad alzarsi in volo più di tutti nell'area di rigore, prendere il pallone e di testa mandarlo in rete. Così in campo, quel ragazzo silenzioso...

You can tell a man's significance to a city when his life (and death) spawns a literary genre.

Iacovone's death has already served as the backdrop to Cosimo Argentino's Cuore di Cuoio, by my reckoning one of the greatest novels of post-Tangentopoli Italy.

Where's that, Luke? I find that coffee in Prague is uniformly pish.

And here's your Serie B!

Ancona
Anzio
Clodiense
Ischia
Lavagnese
Livorno
Locri
Messina
Ostia Mare
Reggina
Sambenedettese
Sanremese
Savoia
Sestri Levante
Siracusa
Taranto
Triestina
Turris
Vado
Vigor Senigallia

Italian Coastal League 2024/25

Imagine an Italy without electricity, gas or petrol (or steam?)

...where the only viable way to get 11 players from one city to another was by boat.

Well here's your top flight.

And that's Atalanta (or Aife)...

Next up: Bologna

As for the stadium, Atalanta's current Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia was built in 1928.

But it was built on top of the existing Ippodromo Borgo Santa Caterina - a kind of Lombard Shawfield.

Scottish naming conventions would surely have this as St Catherine's Park.

The River "Brent" (and Brentford) in SE England is thought to derive its name from "Brigantia", so a similar development can be envisaged in lowland Scotland.

But since Birrens (D&G), like Bergamo, lies on a military road & could conceivably come from "brig", let's put it there.

One of those Brittonic tribes was the Brigantes (meaning the "High Ones"), who worshipped the goddess Brigantia. "Brig" likely has the same root as "Berg".

Although a northern English tribe, a statuette to Brigantia has been found at Birrens, Dumfries & Galloway...

How about Bergamo?

"Berg" might come from the Gallic (Cenomani) word for mountain, later Latinised as Bergomum, perhaps tied to the Celtic mountain god Bergimus.

The Padanian influence of the Gallic Celts can be compared to the lowland influence of the Brittonic Celts.

1. Atalanta (Italy)

Scottish name: Aife
Town: Birrens (D&G)
Ground: St Catherine's Park

In Greek mythology, the huntress Atalanta wouldn't marry until she was outrun by a man.

In Celtic mythology, Aife (a warrior-queen) only married once outfought (deceiptfully) by Cú Chulainn

We'll start at the beginning of the alphabet and move through it in spurts until I get stuck or fed up (that usually happens when I get to Juventus).

We'll start with Atalanta, which is perhaps one of the simpler ones.

So here goes...

For our purposes, the Greek influence on Italy (Magna Grecia) is equivalent to the Gael influence on Scotland in 500-850 AD (Dál Riata).

The Gallic influence on Italy might be equivalent to the Brittonic on Scotland, and so on.

Hopefully this will become clear as we go on...

Equivalence is the key, but from a history perspective there's a time shift at play.

When the Greeks (with their mature language and culture) were colonising the southern city of Taranto in 706 BC, their Iron Age was already at its end, while Scotland's was only just beginning.

For an example of how we'll do this, let's look at the name of the game itself.

Calcio becomes ba' due to some similarities between the Duke of Buccleuch's ba' game played in the Scottish borders in 1815 and the "calcio" fiorentino played centuries ago in Tuscany.

Methodology:

We analyse the linguistic, geographical & historical background of Italy's clubs to identify:

1. What they'd be called if they were Scottish
2. Where they would play
3. The name of their ground (e.g. the Arena Garibaldi might become William Wallace Park).

If Dundee were Akragas: An alternate football universe

What if Serie A's clubs had sprung up not in Italy, but in Scotland?

Here's a slow thread on how Italian calcio might be understood within a Caledonian context.

This thread could be a bombscare...

Messina was originally called "Zancle" (Siculian for "sickle"), so named by colonising pirates due to the shape of its harbour.

It was later re-christened "Messene" by Anaxilaus, tyrant of Reggio, who hailed from the Greek region of Messenia (adding an extra edge to the Messina-Reggina derby 😉).

The word Avellino comes from the proto-Indo-European word for "apple" (abel).

In Roman times, it was called Abellinum - but it was 4km away from its current location.

Conversely, the nearby town of "Avella" is believed to come from the Latin for "hazelnut" (as in the Spanish "avellana").

The city of Benevento used to be called "Maleventum" until the Romans realised the name probably didn't bode well for the town.

The Romans had misconceived the town's original name of "Maloenton" (probably indicating sheep-farming activity) as meaning "malum eventum" (ill-occurrence).