a kick to american football
...we exported italian calcio too!
By Christopher Pepe
(return to sports)

Many Football fans would have you believe that American Football originated on U.S. soil. Historians, however, have taught us differently. The pre-cursor to American footbal is a game called calcio, and, you guessed it, it originated in bella Italia!

Calcio is the original Florentine football game payed in 16th Century Italy. It was institutionalised and played annually in the Piazza della Novere (although some say that the field was actually the Piazza di Santo Croce). It was a kickball type of game called giuoco del calcio fiorentino played principally by the aristocracy and played every night between Epiphany and Lent.

In addition to its subtler aristocratic version, calcio had a more viscious nature dating back to the Arpasto -- a form of calcio played by legionaries of the Roman Florentia. In fact, its stoic arrangement and viscious movements remind many of the battle order of the Roman army.

Many believe that the soldiers played in order to maintain strength, as the game develops arm and leg muscles in a real hand to hand struggle for a sphere the size and shape of a cannon ball.

During the time of the Roman Empire, young men of noble families and special physical strenght were bound to dedicate themselves to this rude play. Aside from victory, they played in order to show off the style and sumptuous nature of their uniform, to impress with their strength and combativeness, and of course to catch the admiration of the attending genteel ladies.

Calcio resembled American Gridiron Football, and is thought to be the precursor to the American game. It featured much running, jumping and tackling (in the gridiron fashion). There were no restrictions on the use of hands for field players, and goals were scored by throwing the ball over a designated spot on the perimeter of the field.

Original calcio hasn't survived except as an annual pageant for tourists. Its only true Italian legacy is the adaption of the word in place of the English word "football". It is also formally used in the name of the Italian football association, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (Italian Kickball Game Federation) which was founded in Turin in 1898 originally as the Federazione Italiana del Football.

Today, calcio lives on in a round-robin tournament held annually in June by teams drawn from Florence's four major neighborhoods. The tournament is held to celebrate the feast of the Patron Saint, and lots are drawn each year to see who will play first. After the long parade headed by the nobles on horseback, starting in Santa Maria Novella and culminating in Piazza Santa Croce, the game begins to cries of Viva Firenze! It is an hour of continuous struggle, attacks, scuffles, blows and tangling of bodies dressed in fifteenth-century costumes. Many say, it is a spectacle not to be missed.

Parts the preceding article used the following websites for reference: Calcio Storico Fiorentino, Feste e Tradizioni Fiorentine and The Historic Game of Calcio in Costume.