There’s Only Three Francesco Tottis! City Murals Honour the King of Rome

Mention football murals in Italy and Naples immediately springs to mind.

The city is an open-air shrine to Diego Maradona, his face on walls and buildings, a new one seemingly added every other month.

Other Napoli heroes get the mural treatment too, just not to the same extent. There’s Dries Mertens, Victor Osimhen, Kvincha Kvaratskhelia, and players from other clubs who are local boys, such as Domenico Criscito, who spent a career mostly at Genoa and Zenit St Petersburg.

It is often argued that after Naples, Rome is home to the most passionate fans in Italy, so it comes as no shock that Romanisti have produced a few murals of their own over the years.

Here they depict their King of Rome. Across 25 years Francesco Totti made 786 appearances and scored 307 goals for Roma – both record totals – for the only club he represented. And rather fittingly, it was Maradona who said: “Francesco Totti is the greatest player I have ever seen.”

Given his demi-God status in the Eternal City, it is surprising there aren’t more images of Totti dotted around the capital.

Yet Roman authorities are stricter than their Neapolitan counterparts. A mural of Pope Francis in 2014, depicting him as a ‘Super-Pope’ in a Superman pose, was quickly scrubbed away.

At least three of Totti have stood the test of time, despite the best efforts of Lazio fans who have been known to graffiti them.

The most famous Totti mural is down a quiet side street on Via della Madonna dei Monti in the Monti district. It depicts Er Pupone in his 2000-01 pomp, seconds after scoring a rifler of a goal in a 3-0 win over Napoli.

It appeared in the days after Roma’s third, and last, Scudetto win in June 2001. Unlike the Maradona murals, Totti’s won’t appear in any official guides. You will need to go out of your way to find it. 

Wayne Girard, a fan from the US who went on to work with the club, told us: “You’ll never forget the moment you lay eyes on it, at least I won’t.

“It has become a destination in itself, a pilgrimage for not just Roma but all football fans. The fact that it hides in an alleyway makes it all the more elusive.”

The second, and much larger, is on the wall of Totti’s old school, on the corner of Via Sibari and Via Apulia in the neighbourhood where he grew up. Covering two-and-a-half floors, it appeared in early 2014.

In March 2018 a mural popped almost overnight. Created by local artist Tvboy, it is on the corner of Via Vicolo Savelli and has Totti as a Saint, wearing a Roma-themed robe, arms outstretched and doves swirling around him. Of course, there’s a football at his feet.

For those not native to Rome, it can be difficult to articulate just how worshipped Totti is. 

“He’s more than a king, because kings are respected in their individuality. Totti is the reference point, for better or worse,” says Girard. “His shoulders were so heavy, and on top of the statistics and contributions, he was adored. 

“Those qualities are irreplaceable, and it makes fans reminisce in a good way, but this can also be destructive as fans also seek the next coming – but football and personalities have changed, there will never be another Totti.”

If Napoli has Maradona, Roma has Totti.