The Italian Roots Running Deep in Australia’s World Cup Camp

The bond between Italy and Australia has always been strong. Across the 1950s and 60s, huge numbers of Italians left their homeland to move Down Under in search of better opportunities. 

From that moment a strong Italian-Australian community was born – one that carried over into the world of football. This summer the Azzurri are missing the World Cup for the third time in a row, but there will still be a little piece of Italy at the tournament. 

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has called up two players with strong Italian roots: Cristian Volpato, the Sassuolo attacking midfielder, and Alessandro Circati, the Parma centre-back. 

Both wear the green and gold, but their relationship with Italy goes deep: a Nonno’s story, childhood trips back, Azzurri matches on television and, above all, the food. 

Volpato’s story

It begins long before he was born. His grandfather, Sergio, hailed from Fossalunga, a small village in Veneto, and moved to Australia before Cristian’s father was born. 

Cristian was born in Sydney in 2003 – the era of the great AC Milan of Carlo Ancelotti, Kaka and Pirlo. And the road to football started with his grandfather. 

“My nonno, he’s the one really who introduced me to the ball,” Volpato told Serie A. “People used to tell me, when I used to go back to Fossalunga, that my nonno was a really good football player. And they’d say, ‘hey, you got it from him’.” 

Despite the distance, Cristian always felt close to Italian football. While his dad went off to work, the youngster would sit in front of the television all morning. “I always used to watch AC Milan because they had my favourite players, Kaka and Ronaldinho,” he recalled in the same interview. 

But the pull of Italy ran far beyond a Sunday match. “It starts from my grandparents, getting a boat to Australia and starting there with nothing,” he told Adriano del Monte for Football360. “My grandparents could only speak Italian. I would listen to their Italian and I would learn a bit. I’m born with the Italian blood inside of me. Being Italian, you’re proud and I think the Italian lifestyle is good as well: drink, have fun.” 

Nowhere was that pride sharper than in 2006. “Growing up with the World Cup win, I had all the players on my wall.” 

He started his career in Australia, but Italy was always involved. “I started off with the AC Milan Academy in Sydney in Homebush with (former Serie A player) Andrea Icardi,” he said. 

“Ever since I was a young kid, I’ve always had Italian coaches, so even when I came to Italy I was kind of used to it. I have to thank Australia a lot – they gave me all the opportunities when I was young and I can only speak good about that.”

Scouted by Roma at 16, he made his debut under Jose Mourinho and was taken under the wing of Francesco Totti. “I don’t think anyone knows Rome more than him. Having a guy like him take you under his wing was amazing.” 

His ties to Australia remain strong. “My dad still lives there, my sister still lives there, all my cousins live there. I was born and raised in Australia.”

But he owes his move across the ocean to his mother. “She quit her job in Australia to come and take me overseas and to help me with my dream. She’s probably my idol: she’s my mum, she’s my best friend, she’s all of it in one.” 

Now he’s at Sassuolo, deep in Emilia’s food country. When asked to name something visitors simply have to try, he reached for a local delicacy, Tosone, a soft cheese from the world of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

“All my cousins that come from Australia, they all fall in love,” he told Destination Calcio. “It’s cheese with prosciutto wrapped up, you have to try it. Montana is the best restaurant, where all the Ferrari guys go.” 

Montana is the restaurant at Maranello, the home of Ferrari. This is the place with Ferrari parts on the walls and it is a big favourite of Sassuolo defender Josh Doig, who showed Destination Calcio around Modena, the city he calls home. Doig, a Scotland international, named Volpato among his closest companions at the club.

Volpato played for the Italian national team from Under-19. In 2022 he turned down Australia’s call but four years on, he decided to accept the Socceroos shirt, with Italy always in his heart. 

“It’s good to have Cristian in (the Australia) camp. It’s been a long time coming. Obviously, the conversations between him and me stay between him and me. But deep down, I knew he was going to come. Just didn’t know when.”

Those are the words of Alessandro Circati…

Circati’s story 

His is slightly different from Volpato’s. Alessandro was born in 2003 in Fidenza, Emilia, and lived in the small town of Salsomaggiore for a year before moving to Australia with his family. 

Speaking to Parma’s Parmaroots series, he recalled his background fondly: “Obviously me, my mum, my dad and my brother used to come to Salso to visit the family, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles. 

“It’s a place I’m attached to, it’s not my home, but it’s a place I consider a second home.” 

In the same interview, he explained how his father, Gianfranco, played football in Italy but fell in love with Australia: “My dad played here in Italy, then he went to Australia for a couple of years for a life experience, with no initial intention of settling there. But then my parents fell in love with Perth, so my dad went back to play his final years as a footballer and, when he retired, he effectively wanted to stay there.” 

The move wasn’t easy for the Circati family at first. “It was hard for everyone,” his mother, Giselle, told Parmaroots. “Australia isn’t exactly around the corner.”

His brother Gianluca remembered the upheaval: “It was a shock. I remember it was hard, because when I got there, not speaking the language, it was complicated.” 

Circati started out playing various sports including rugby and surfing but in the end he focused on football. He made his name at his home-city club, Perth Glory, and in 2021, after a move to England fell through, he returned to Emilia. He joined Parma’s youth ranks and made his debut in 2022. 

In 2023 he was called up by Australia. “For me it was a very natural and logical path. I never talked it over with my parents or my brother – they always told me to play for Australia if that’s what I felt and wanted.” 

Now he’s been selected for the World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. “The World Cup is the most beautiful thing a footballer can do – to represent your national team, and in the biggest competition,” he told his club’s official channel. 

Two Roots, One Choice 

Both men could, in another life, have worn Italy’s blue. Volpato grew up with the Azzurri on his wall; Circati was born in the shadow of the Apennines. In the end, both followed their hearts to Australia – Volpato after the Italian call never arrived, Circati out of a feeling he never had to explain. 

But Italy travels with them – in Nonno’s old village, in a plate of Tosone, in the Azzurri memories that shaped two boys long before the world started watching. When the Socceroos walk out at this World Cup, a little piece of Veneto and Emilia walks out with them.