Why Spezia was the Perfect Stop on Francesco Pio Esposito’s Road to the Top

From former league champions to clubs that were top-flight regulars during Italian football’s heyday, Serie C is a smorgasbord of fallen giants. This season it will also be home to the side that played a crucial role in developing Italy’s next big hope.

A product of the Inter Milan academy, Francesco Pio Esposito joined Spezia on loan in the summer of 2023, just months after they had returned to Serie B having lost the relegation play-off against Verona.

Aged 18, Esposito arrived in Liguria’s second-biggest city along with his elder brother, midfielder Salvatore, and with a blossoming reputation after averaging a goal every other game for the Inter Primavera side the previous term.

Three goals in 38 appearances in his debut season in professional football was hardly a spectacular return, particularly as the Aquilotti drifted to a 15th-place finish instead of challenging for promotion.

But manager Luca D’Angelo trusted Esposito to come good and his faith was rewarded the following campaign, as 17 league goals fired his team to the Serie B play-off final after finishing the regular season in third.

“Over the span of a single season, he improved in so many areas,” D’Angelo told Tuttosport. “It’s a matter of mentality, but it was always obvious he was a massive talent with huge potential. Every single player, no matter the level, needs to play to their strengths and make them work for the team. He has unique traits that he really brings to life, but he does it with and for the team.”

Esposito scored against Catanzaro in the semi-final as Spezia won 4-1 on aggregate and he netted in the second leg of the final against Cremonese. Ultimately, there was no fairytale ending as the Grigiorossi ran out 3-2 aggregate winners and returned to Serie A.

It proved to be a sliding-doors moment for the Aquilotti, who without Esposito finished 19th and dropped down to Serie C for the first time in 14 years.

On his return to Inter, Esposito scored 10 goals in all competitions as they won the Scudetto at a canter, and earned his first Italy cap in September.

He scored in the June friendlies against Greece and Luxembourg, in the first international break since he missed a penalty in the shootout defeat by Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Azzurri failed to make the World Cup.

His early international numbers are impressive though – five goals in nine games – and there is plenty more to come, according to former Italy striker and fellow Campania native Antonio Di Natale, who said there are similarities between Esposito and AC Milan legend Marco van Basten.

“I’m convinced he will score many more, and that he is the future of the Azzurri for the next 15 years,” Di Natale told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I met him in La Spezia last year when I went to visit CEO Andrea Gazzoli, and both he and his brother Salvatore played there.

“Besides being a great striker, I can assure you that Pio is also a guy with his head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground. Even then, you could see that he was destined to wear the jersey of a big club.

“He is always on the ball, works to improve, and is very hungry. These are the essential qualities for growing and going far. Technically, he is strong in the air, has a good shot, protects the ball very well, and is difficult to move. He knows how to play football and is intelligent in occupying spaces in the penalty area.”

Away from the bright lights of Milan and Serie A, La Spezia proved to be an ideal developing ground.

Looking ahead to 2026-27, of the 60 teams in the third tier, the Ligurians will be one of the biggest fish in Serie C, along with Girone B rivals Pescara and Reggiana, who were also both relegated last season.

To the casual football fan, Liguria means Genoa and Sampdoria at the famous Luigi Ferraris, Italy’s oldest stadium still in use. On matchdays it delivers one of the best atmospheres anywhere in Europe, regardless of whether it’s Genoa or Sampdoria playing at home. The Marassi, as it is known after the neighbourhood it sits in, is a sight to behold.

But just an hour to the south, La Spezia is also home to a historic ground. Sitting a stone’s throw from the city’s docks, the Stadio Alberto Picco was built in 1919 on a site the club acquired from the Italian Navy and was made to resemble the British grounds of the time.

Originally, the Picco, named after Spezia’s first ever goalscorer and World War I hero who died aged 21, featured covered wooden stands, before the introduction of a new concrete stand in 1933.

Three decades later the new stand was joined by the Curva Ferrovia – the Railway End – with the Curva Piscina – the Pool End – built in 1986 following Spezia’s promotion to Serie C1.

By the early 1990s, the Picco underwent a major and long overdue renovation, with a new main stand and Curva Ferrovia replacing the existing structures.

The result is a stadium that blends history and modernity better than most in Serie C and with a capacity of just north of 12,000, it will be one of the biggest in the division, behind Livorno’s Stadio Armando Picchi and Perugia’s Stadio Renato Curi.

In Esposito’s second season, the average attendance was more than 9100, and that dipped to below 9000 after he left as the team slipped closer to the trapdoor.

For English fans there is an element of familiarity as the new Curva Ferrovia loosely resembles the South Stand at Wigan’s Brick Community Stadium and houses the Spezia ultras. On its day, the Ferrovia can produce one of the best atmospheres anywhere in Italy outside of Serie A.

When Destination Calcio visited last year, we were treated to a spectacular display of pyrotechnics and flares as the entire curva was decked out in white to resemble a smaller version of Penn State’s famous White Out.

The atmosphere was similarly spicy at nearby bar Dal Toscano, a favourite haunt of Spezia ultras before games. Dozens of mopeds may block the road, but head in for a beer and get a real taste of what football in La Spezia is like.

But there is more to La Spezia than a visit to the Picco. Nestled on the southern edge of Liguria, the city is the gateway to the world-famous Cinque Terre, just 30 minutes away by train.

La Spezia is still small enough to be perfectly walkable and its quiet streets are a world away from the narrow alleyways of the Cinque Terre towns, which tend to be rammed with tourists nine months a year.

As for the teams visiting La Spezia this season, the locals will be hoping they head back home disappointed. The road back to Serie B begins here.