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-- Renzo Nostini, Presidente Generale della Società Sportiva Lazio
“E’ più difficile descriverla che sentirla la Lazialità: è signorilità non di carattere esteriore, è cosa che si sente dentro, della quale ci si sente orgogliosi. E’ un messaggio che tocca i cuori, la mente, la sensibilità e ci innalza verso il cielo, è un messaggio di costume di vita e quindi incide nel comportamento quotidiano di ciascuno di noi. E’ importante dimostrarla in ogni occasione, nei campi di gioco e nella vita.”
It is a warm afternoon, beginning of July 1987. Two children are riding their small bikes, wondering around the streets of their quiet hometown, enjoying their favorite amusement during the long school vacations in Italy. Suddenly they stop. Something, someone is drawing their attention. A bunch of people, seated with their chairs forming a circle, in silence. In the middle, an old radio chattering words.
In a small town, and especially during the summer, retired people use to gather to play cards and spend some time together, talking loudly and having fun. That sight looks completely new and bizarre to “i gemellini” (the little twins), the nickname people in the town gave the two brothers. What is so important to keep all these people sitting there in silence?
The two brothers do not understand. They stay there, observing. They can see the tension on the face of the people. The radio chattering becomes suddenly quicker, louder, then quiet again. The old faces turn tense; then a look at each other; a small smile; a sigh. On every now and then, their silence is broken by some weird exclamation, such as “attenzione a Lupo!” ("watch out for Wolf!") Or, right when they are about to jolt, they freeze, imprecating.
Then, the silence turns into loud cheering and celebrations, and contagious happiness. Lazio has just accomplished one of her most dramatic and heroic deeds, but of course the two children do not know. And they would not care less, completely taken by the magic atmosphere, the chants, the sight of cars waving flags out of the windows, passing one after each other.
A warm afternoon
I spent my childhood surrounded by friends who quickly decided to side with the powerful teams. I saw them switching between Roma, Juve and Milan once, twice, and then again. Lazio’s results were poor, but I didn’t mind. I used to spend hours talking to great Laziali. From them I learned a lot, and I slowly started to shape my passion, to build my shield.
This is when I started following Lazio.
I became eager to know about Lazio’s past, I started looking back to realize, with surprise, that every new page turned was making me more and more proud about Lazio. The more I looked back, the less I cared about Lazio’s drawbacks, about our beloved players leaving.
The more I looked back, the more I loved Lazio. I understood why Laziali are a minority in the eternal city, where yet our name resounded first; and I loved that. Every day I took in a bit of the admirable Lazio’s ideals, the elegance of our colors, the pride of our symbol. The greatness of our history.
Day by day, I became a Laziale.
It is a warm afternoon, middle of June 2001. Two brothers are in their room, silently looking at each other. They have just switched off the radio, bringing the news they would never have wanted to hear. The windows are shut, the blinds down. Still, from the streets they can clearly hear the giallorossi fans celebrating with their cars’ horns. An incessant noise. It’s hurting like hell. “The flag! Come on, let’s put the flag out! Let’s go!” A look at each other; suddenly, a smile is back on their faces.
A few minutes later, a huge Lazio flag is waving proud out of the balcony, caressed by the wind.
The year 1896 celebrates, in Athens, the first Olympic Games of the Modern Era. These games, attended by about 250 athletes, are the largest international sports event ever held until that time. In those turbulent and difficult years, with many countries still involved in wars and a very uncertain future, the Olympic Games play a crucial and stabilising role, spreading the enthusiasm for sports among young people.
In Rome, the most popular sports at that time are running and swimming in the Tiber, sports affordable by the most since they do not require expensive equipment. A lucky minority can practice cycling, an increasingly popular activity that will experience its definitive consecration in 1903, with the first Tour de France. Several boat clubs are established along the Tiber, such as Canottieri Aniene, Canottieri Remo, Canottieri Tevere, devoted to high society people only.
The large majority of Roman youth athletes have two main meeting points: the Talacchi brothers’ building, below Margherita bridge, and Pippa Nera building. They are expression of a very enthusiastic way to approach sports, but still quite disorganised. At Pippa Nera, Luigi Bigiarelli is among the most well known guys. Luigi Bigiarelli is a bersagliere who fought in Ethiopia in 1886.
He survived to one of the most dramatic battles in the Italian history, at Adua, in March 1986, when sixteen thousands Italian soldiers, under the command of General Oreste Baratieri, were defeated by Menelik’s army. Seven thousands Italians died, while the rest had to suffer a long retreat in the Tigray region. Luigi, who witnessed the war’s atrocities, knew that Sport could bring peace and friendship between peoples and countries. Bigiarelli is not satisfied about the disorganised approach to sports that characterised Roma.
For Bigiarelli, sports need to be something well organised, with a clear social and educative value. He has in mind a very ambitious project. He comes up with an idea: to create a runners’ club, having in Piazza della Liberta’ its meeting point, so that all the members could take part in competitions wearing the same colours. Bigiarelli’s friends, a bunch of guys he used to train with, are enthusiast about the idea, and they accept immediately.
9th January 1900: Concordia parvae res crescunt
The eagle as symbol, from the Great Imperial Rome, the Eagle of Rome, the one and only Aquila of the Legions. The colours are taken from Greece, mother of Olympic Games (originally, Greece’s colours were white and pale blue, and then become white and blue). The first Lazio consists mainly of very young athletes, most of them below the age of 20, having as Captains Luigi Bigiarelli, a true leader full of enthusiasm, and his brother Giacomo.
The other guys are Arturo Balestreri, an infantry lieutenant who seven years later will become the Italian champion on the 10.000m; Odoacre Aloisi, Alceste Grifoni, a future admiral of the Royal Navy, Giulio Lefevre, Galileo Massa, Alberto Mesones, Enrico Venier. According to other writings of that period, however, next to the nine founders there were also the future
army colonnell Fortini, Masini, Mavi and Mazzonali; moreover, it is certain the presence of a very young Olindo Bitetti, determinant for the choice of the name and the social colours.Their motto is “Concordia parvae res crescunt”: in the harmony, even the smallest things grow big.
Commemorative plaque of Lazio's foundation (Piazza della Libertà)
The following day, the newspaper “Il Messaggero” writes: “Yesterday, thanks to a group of keen youngsters, a running club named Lazio has been founded. Lazio, like the sister-clubs Milano, Torino and Genova, has the aim to promote this sport so useful for everybody, and young people especially. Lazio will organise competitions and training excursions; finally, Roma will have its own section of the Italian Audax podistico, headquartered in Milano. The number of members guarantees that this sport will spread as it deserves. The provisional headquarter is located in via degli Osti, n.15, for all those who need information.”
It was the 9th day of January, year 1900.
This is when Lazio sees the light, within horsedrawn vehicles, buggies and the first electric train in Rome. A fate shaped by the bersagliere Luigi Bigiarelli. His dream will soon become true. The 2nd day of June, 1921, a Regio Decreto declares Lazio “Ente Morale”, for its social, cultural and sportive merits. In 1967, S.S. Lazio receives the “Golden Star” for sportive merits. Today, Lazio has 46 Sport sections, being the second biggest Polisportiva in Europe.
The exercises start on April 27 1889: “training done, short fast run, good results”. The trainings become tougher and tougher, for Bigiarelli was testing the possibilities of his body, which could benefit from the hard military trainings. The results are immediately surprising when he tries the chilometer, a few days later: “first training: 3’14”; second training: 3’23”; third training: 3’12”; fourth training: 3’09”” During the summer Bigiarelli turns to swimming: “distances measured by myself: from Teverone to Acqua Acetosa 2.200 meters; from Acqua Acetosa to Ponte Mollo 1.800 meters; from Ponte Mollo to Ponte Margherita 3.600 meters”.
“5 October 1889. I run 700 meters in 114”; got the idea to found a podistic club named Società Podistica Romana”
So the dream begins. The last page of the diary talks about the meeting where the idea Lazio had certainly been discussed: “31 December. We went together to a nice place in the fields to have lunch. Very nice atmosphere”. In less than one year from is birth, Lazio is already turning the first page of its history book.
The founder Luigi Bigiarelli moves to Belgium, never to return. Behind this decision, the desire to follow his brother, who moved there earlier to work as goldsmith; as well as a few clashes with other Lazio members. In 1902, a French newspaper writes about an Italian guy winning the 30 km marathon in the Fiandre, with the total time of 2 hours and 28 minutes. He is wearing a white and pale-blue jersey. His name is Luigi Bigiarelli. He was however not new to incredible deeds: only a few months earlier he had been running from Roma to Firenze in 2 days and 19 hours: 700 km run with only a pause during the night! The news of the great victory of the Fiandre marathon, reported by the Gazzetta dello Sport, is unfortunately the last one before the premature death of the young Lazio athlete. Luigi Bigiarelli will die a few years later because of a lung infection, at the age of 25. The victory of the Marathon was indeed his spiritual testament, whose echoe had reached the proud shores of the river Tiber. In Rome, the dream of Bigiarelli is soon becoming a reality. Lazio opens to other sports, such as rowing and swimming. Then, to something completely unknown: Rome is about to discover an incredibly fascinating sport. In January 1901, an odd guy just arrived from Paris knocks at the Lazio office’s door, in Via Valadier. Bruno Seghettin, an Italian immigrant to France and member of the Paris Racing Club, takes out from his bag a leather ball: the first football seen in Rome. Immediately afterwards, Bruno and the enthusiast Lazio guys are already in Piazza D’Armi, to discover together the new game. Lazio has just started his greatest adventure in history.
Piazza della Libertà in 1900
They choose to name the club “Societa’ Podistica Lazio”. Why Lazio? Grifoni explained: “We must represent the Urbs Aeterna, the Eternal City, but we must not be bound to it. We must find a name that encloses Rome, but which is not limited to Rome. Let’s call it Latium, or Lazio, our region, in Italian”. Latium, in Latin, comes from the Indo-European root “Lat“, meaning “wide, spacious”. In fact, Lazio is mainly a large valley where Rome lies. And this reflects perfectly the ideas of the founders of the Club.
A love ends... Lazio's history begins
One of the first issues to be addressed is the definition of the society’s headquarters: a very small flat in via Valadier n.6. The training ground is the huge Piazza D’Armi, a green field stretching from Lungotevere to Viale delle Milizie. Very soon, Piazza D’Armi will become a very popular place to visit for many Roman youngsters.
Olindo Bitetti talked about those days in his memories: “the sport pioneers were called stinky-feet and madmen from the intellectual of that époque. The ladies grieved at us running in shorts during the cold winter evenings; but we had no choice but training in the winter evening to prepare for the competitions taking place in the spring, since we had to work or study during the day.
Our passion brought us to the club’s locker rooms, some poor basement in the Prati quarter, where we would prepare for the training, our theet chattering with cold; then we would come back at the end of the session, steaming tiredness and enthusiasm”. At the Società Sportiva Lazio also the swimmers had to face the rigor of the winter: “Already in April, the swimmers would reach the cold Tiber to prepare for the first competitions, in July”.
Bitetti also underlined the importance of Bigiarelli for that group of youngsters: “we showed to Bigiarelli the same devotion that the religious showed to the Saints”.
But how did the passion for sports start in Bigiarelli? More than one hundred years later, the diary of the Lazio’s founder offers precious answers. It’s the “Rome’s birthday” when the conversion of Bigiarelli takes place, apparently caused by a love’s disillusion. “21 April 1889.
"My love has left for Bruxelles and my habits have changed. I do not know what to do anymore, I do not know where to go, and reaching those places where I spent beautiful moments with her does not ease my pain; everything bothers me, I even avoid my friends. In order to give a shock to my life and to avoid those places that made me recall of her, I’ve decided to abandon the gallant life, the walks, and the elegant coffees. I will change this life with sport exercises that, apart from distracting my mind, will tire me so that I will be able to sleep at night”.
This Bitetti guy - they whisper - is always incredibly hyperactive. The members’ meeting is held on the following day. The Infantry General, Ettore Varini, takes over Micozzi as President of S.S. Lazio, Vaccaro is appointed Vice-President, Bitetti Secretary. The following day Vaccaro goes to meet Italo Foschi. Giorgio Vaccaro knocks at the door of Foschi’s office, then slowly opens the door; he then lets first one leg in, then suddenly shows himself. Foschi looks at him and: Hi, can I help?
Vaccaro replies: “You called me”. Foschi is even more surprised: “Me? And when?” Vaccaro is nearly amused: “Here, this is your letter!” Foschi: “Ah yes, but that letter is addressed to Lazio and I called its President” Vaccaro: “Exactly. Since yesterday, Varini is the President and I am his Vice. So, tell me what do you want”. Foschi looks at him, wondering and starting to understand, then says: “Well, we need to create a big football club in Rome. Alba, Fortitudo and Roman are more than ready to merge; with you too we are perfect, since you have a very good organisation which we can benefit from, and you also have a good football pitch.”
Vaccaro pretends to be interested: “Everything is possible. But which are the terms?” Foschi is a bit relieved: “The gold medalist Ulisse Igliori will be the President” Vaccaro: “Ok. What about the colours?” Foschi: “Clearly we are going to use the colours of the City and the Council, yellow and red”.
So it begins: the Rome's rivalry
June 1927. The Secretary of the National Fascist Party’s Roman Federation (Italo Foschi) comes up with an idea: merging all the major football teams in Rome into a unique club. This meant that Lazio, the first team in the city, founded in 1900, had to merge with Alba, Fortitudo and Roman to give birth to “Associazione Sportiva Roma”, which was going to wear the City Council’s colours, that is yellow and red.
In the Lazio headquarters nobody knows about the existence of such a possibility. Hence, nobody fears. It is about the end of June. In San Giovanni, people are preparing for the Patron’s festivity, decorating the streets with banners and lights, when a letter is delivered to Lazio’s headquarter.
Lazio’s chairman is summoned to the Fascist Federation head office for urgent communications. Lazio’s people are shocked. It was not possible to think about something worse than this happening to Lazio. Italo Foschi’s idea was sinisterly clear. Olindo Bitetti gets mad. He grabs the letter and rushes to the caserma della milizia, in Magnanapoli road.
He bursts into the office of the Chief of the Army General Staff, Consul Vaccaro, a well-known Lazio member. "We are f*cked!" he exclaims, without even saying hello to Vaccaro. Giorgio Vaccaro is stunned. He tries to calm down Bitetti before asking him for an explanation. Bitetti, shaken and with a face red as a tomato, says: "Foschi wants to merge Lazio with the other clubs to create Roma!!! Look, I’ve got the letter here, this is a swindle! We are f*cked!"
Vaccaro looks at the letter and reads: Lazio’s chairman must meet Foschi within two days... He then looks again at the grief-striken face of Bitetti, opens his arms saying: "why Lazio too?" Bitetti vents his anger: "because Foschi thinks that only with just one big club, without opponents, it is possible to do well in the National football. And since Lazio is a strong team and very well organised, we would challenge any other team in the Capital. Moreover, this new club does not have any football pitch, while we have the Rondinella. We need to do something!!! Oh my God, what can we do, what?"
Vaccaro thinks for a while, then says: "Well, there is not much we can do in just two days!!!" Suddenly the room becomes silent, both Vaccaro and Bitetti sit down. The face of the latter was now changing from purple red full of tension, to olive-coloured white full of resignation.
Some minutes go by and nothing happens. Finally, Vaccaro breaks the silence. Bitetti follows him with his eyes, some hope appears on his face. Vaccaro stands up and says: "There is a way! Let’s appoint General Varini President and myself Vice-President. And then I will go to meet Italo Foschi!”
Press news on the merger between Alba, Fortitudo and Roman
Vaccaro then turns chilly, changes his position on the chair, but he still wants to keep playing for a while: “Ah Ok, I see. And which name will you give to this new club?” Foschi: “Well, it will be Roma, of course!” General Vaccaro then concludes: “So, Lazio disappears. The new club takes yellow and red colours, the name of Roma, and Lazio’s pitch. Very well. Then, my friend Italo, you are forgetting something: Lazio is an Ente Morale. Hence, we can think about the merger (Vaccaro is ironic, while Foschi is nodding), but only if the new club will be called Lazio, and will have the colours of the sky. I also have to confess that personally I do not agree with mergers, because two strong teams create emulation and emulation is at the basis of sports. Lazio has a great number of supporters, bigger than the other clubs, this is also an element that needs to be considered. Supporters and athletes are the blood and the future of the sport. We must protect them."
Foschi looks at Vaccaro, takes a few seconds then says: “I’ve perfectly understood, Lazio won’t be merged”. Once again Lazio won, in the name of her ideal. And this is its most secret victory, flashing, decisive. Only a few will know that within two evenings, back in June 1927 (the 25th), the Lazio of Bigiarelli, Ancherani, Corelli, Ballerini, the Club that preserves the memory of heroic deads, legendary champions and beloved pioneers, Lazio, which was (and still is) the first and more modern frontier of sports in Roma and Central-Southern Italy, died and came back to life. The opposition to the merger disappointed the other clubs, which took it as an offense and this worsened the rivalry between Lazio and the newborn Roma.
Largo Magnanapoli in 1900
Bitetti feels relieved, but Vaccaro has not finished yet: “Call the members’ meeting immediately and make sure these appointments are done. Then come back to me. In the meantime I will keep the letter.” Vaccaro grabs the envelope and places it inside his right boot (at that time, military boots had small pockets for documents).
Bitetti has a doubt: “Will Varini accept?” Vaccaro replies immediately: “we’ll tell him later!” Bitetti runs away, heading to S.S. Lazio head office. As he arrives he starts shouting like a mad “Meeting! Meeting! Meeting! Come, quick, there is a members meeting!!!” His colleagues, who still don’t know anything, look at him skeptically, thinking he is a madman.
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