Calcio Storico Fiorentino - Event Description from Ultimate Italy

It’s a well defined message of power and valor on the ground!

The message of the game is more than evident. To display valor and power not only to the enemies but also to all those with whom there is a good relationship.

The game Calcio Fiorentino is well known by two names: Calcio in Costume and Calcio Storico. It is somewhat a mixture of both soccer and rugby which originated during the 16th century in Italy. Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence is the cradle of this favorite sport. It later came to be known as giuoco del calcio fiorentino, ‘Florentine kick game’ or simply calcio (which means ‘kick’).

The game is played without any rules and regulations. It requires a great deal of physical expertise to move around the ground with the ball and also defend oneself from the opponent. Physical strength was the central and ancestral culture during the feudal times.

Florence had many powerful noble families. Four most powerful families of the lot had devised the game with one intention - to demonstrate their physical strength to everyone including their enemies. The show was the privilege only for the ruling class and did not include men belonging to the working class of the society. The show also depicted the monetary power as well as their brutal force.

The game was played and is still continued to be played once in a year in the heart of Florence city at the Piazza St Croce. This ensures that nobody in the area misses the annual event. Just like the Palio de Siena, there is a lot of pomp and show before the game commences. There is an extensive parade and marching of the military in colorful historical costumes. Not only are the parading people, even the players are dressed in colorful traditional costumes. Even the spectators become so immersed in the celebrations that sometimes they also find it interesting to come in colorful attires to witness the match.

The Game
Calcio Fiorentino is a game that has no rules. The game itself is very simple. Two teams with 27 players each play the match. There is a goal that is about one meter high and wide at the opposite ends and a red and white ball to play with. The team with greater number of points or ‘cacce’ at the finish of the game is the winner. The winning team was rewarded with a heifer. The players have their own way of playing the game, winning and scoring points. When the game begins, it’s up to the members of the team to maintain their strength and take advantage of the weakness of the opponent’s team. Since there are no rules, the players are free to kick the ball, carry it or throw the ball in any direction. Goals are gained by throwing the ball above a chosen spot on the border of the play field. The field is a huge sand pit. A main referee along with a field master and six linesmen monitor the game.

The players can also apply their full body to oppose the other team member even without taking into account the position of the ball or the demarcation. Each member tries to prevent the other team member to fulfill their strategy of winning. It is thus common to find member of the opposing teams wrestling with each other at one end of the ground and the ball at the other end.

Each team member has an aim - score goals against the other team. Since there are no rules that govern the game, often it is seen that members of the opposing team trying to defeat one another of their physical strength. This sometimes leads to violence also. The game hence consists of 50 minutes of playing with all kinds of techniques that mostly need physical strength. For this the players often get a training on Greek and Roman gladiatorial skills for quite a long period to maintain their structure and stamina for the test. Calcio Fiorentino is more a bare fisted fight, far more atrocious and forerunner to rugby and football. If weapons were given to the players, the game would be more like a gruesome fight held in a Coliseum during the Roman times. The need for a style of training and the demonstrating power were born more than sixteen hundred years prior to Calcio Fiorentino.

The Teams
Santa Croce - azzurro
Santa Maria Novella - rosso
Santo Spirito - bianco
San Giovanni - verde

Four neighborhoods of Florence are represented by a major church in their area. Each neighborhood also has a strong football team. The Azzurro (the Blues) belongs to Santa Croce. The Verde (the Greens) belongs to San Giovanni, the Bianco (the Whites) belongs to Santo Spirito and the Rosso (the Reds) belongs to Santa Maria Novella. Every June, on two Sundays just before the Festa di San Giovanni, there would be two games to decide the teams for the final match.

The Game Today
Today’s game is mostly based on the memories of the game in 1530. Though the games continued until the 1739, the Fiorentino was brought as an annual event in the year 1930.

The game every year begins with a pageant of 530 Florentines in Renaissance costumes marching across the Florence historical center. People make it a point not to miss the march even if they are not able to witness the actual game itself. The participants are dressed in their historical grandeur that depicts the costumes, banners, armors and music of the 16th century.

As the game comes to an end, the players receive lots of kisses from the spectators. This happens just before the heifer is awarded to the winning team and the final parade. The players of the winning team first kiss each other, then they receive it from their girlfriends and finally from their loving mothers. The participants today are mostly in their twenties and thirties. There is also a rule followed today that any person with a criminal record will not be allowed to play the match.

Although only the doormen of nightclubs in Florence constitute most of the players of this game today, the need to reveal power and the style of training are still the same. Even after over 300 years, the values, culture and tradition of the game are still being upheld in the present day. Three matches are played today in a year in Piazza S. Croce, during the 3rd week of June, as a means to stay connected to the glorious history of the beautiful city.