Destination Calcio feature by Luke Taylor

Italian football is steeped in romance. For some reason, out of all the countries in the world, the game emanating from Europe’s boot oozes it more than others.

Milan, Turin, Naples and Rome sit as the focal points of the outside gaze on calcio, home to the most historic and successful teams in the country.

The northern trio of Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan along with Napoli in the south and the Eternal City duo of Roma and Lazio are the six biggest clubs in the land, based in four of the biggest cities. With that comes a shadow cast over the rest of the country.

Yet, out of those shadows come some of the game’s greatest stories – a first step in a glittering career or the fairytale finale that further cements a star’s legendary status. Players become synonymous with these smaller clubs – their star power pulling teams into the global limelight.

Here, we look at 10 of those relationships and the small stages that propelled some of Italy’s greatest stars to greatness.

Antonio Di Natale – Udinese

Antonio Di Natale once turned down a move to Juventus in 2010 because he and his family were settled in Udine. This was a Juventus team who went on to win nine consecutive Scudetti from 2011 to 2020. From this one story, you learn a lot about Di Natale and his career. His loyalty to Udinese was admirable and borders the realm of the likes of Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi at Roma.

His influence on the pitch for the Friulani was nothing short of spectacular, elevating them to Champions League qualification on two occasions – one of which came in his first season at the club.

His goal ratio rivalled Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Lionel Messi’s during their peak and he was a club captain who epitomised everything romantic about calcio. It’s safe to say that he made Udine a recognisable place internationally. 

Gianluca Vialli – Cremonese

The late Gianluca Vialli is best known for spending time at Juventus, Chelsea and Sampdoria. His incredible career saw him win Serie A with two different clubs, a Champions League, an FA Cup and the Coppa Italia four times. But often forgotten about his career is where it started – Cremonese.

He joined the youth ranks of his hometown club before making his first team debut in 1980, when they were stuck in Serie C1 – then calcio‘s third tier.

Although he didn’t feature much during his first season, the Grigiorossi were promoted to Serie B and he became an integral part of the team for the next few seasons, helping them to the promised land of Serie A in 1984. 

Luca Toni – Palermo

Palermo have had some incredible talents pass through their ranks over the years. Paulo Dybala, Edinson Cavani and Javier Pastore are just three names that stand out from a long, star-studded list. But in the early 2000s, the Sicilians were bouncing around Serie C and Serie B and were beset by financial issues.

In 2003, that began to change. Luca Toni signed for Palermo from Carlo Mazzone’s Brescia and played a vital part in bringing the Rosanero back to the top flight of Italian football for the first time in more than 30 years.

He scored 30 goals in his first season for the club and then 20 in the Serie A, leading them to qualification for the UEFA Cup. Toni became an international striker and raised the profile of the club, earning cult status at the Renzo Barbera forever more. 

Marco Materazzi – Perugia

For the casual fan, you may know Marco Materazzi best for being the guy headbutted by Zinedine Zidane in extra time of the 2006 World Cup final.

But Matrix, as he was known to Inter Milan fans, is far more than that. A five-time Scudetto, Champions League and World Cup winner, Materazzi first made his name in the idyllic and relatively humble – at least from a footballing perspective – surroundings of Perugia.

The no-nonsense defender had two stints at the club, separated by a loan to Carpi in Serie C and a weird year on Merseyside with Everton. It was the second stint that helped him put Perugia on the map.

He scored 12 Serie A goals from defence breaking Daniel Passarella’s record and catching the eye of Inter, who signed him in 2001 and the rest, as they say, is history.

And yet, for all the calcio hipsters out there, Materazzi’s name will always remain linked with Perugia, a club he helped elevate to Serie A staple with the Grifoni even going on to qualify for European football after he’d left. 

Enrico Chiesa – Siena

After spending time at Sampdoria, Fiorentina, Lazio and others, Enrico Chiesa signed for Siena – the club where he’d stay for the longest period of his career. His performances were an integral part of Siena’s competitiveness in Serie A as he reached double figures for goals in each of his first three seasons there.

Chiesa was a crucial figure for the Tuscans, one that the fans adored. His time there raised Siena’s profile, briefly cementing them as a Serie A club and bringing more eyes to a lesser-known place. 

Gigi Riva – Cagliari

Often regarded as one of the best Italian players of all time, Gigi Riva is an icon in Cagliari’s history. He joined the club after a short stint in the first team at Legnano and never looked back, staying in Sardinia for the remainder of his career and scoring an astonishing 205 goals in 374 matches for the Rossoblu.

Despite big offers from other clubs, Rombo di Tuono – Thunderbolt – remained at Cagliari and solidified his status as a legend by winning the one and only Scudetto in the club’s history in 1970, when he scored 21 goals in 28 Serie A outings.

It is not a stretch to suggest Riva single-handedly transformed Cagliari, putting the Sardinians on the map and cementing their status as a respected Serie A club. 

Fabrizio Miccoli – Lecce & Palermo

You can argue that Fabrizio Miccoli brought fame to three sides in his career given his fruitful time at Ternana, but he really kicked on at Palermo and then Lecce.

Palermo, as discussed, had already been on the up thanks to their talent production and the goalscoring prowess of Luca Toni. But for many, Miccoli was the reason they turned to the Rosanero.

He featured across six seasons of the club’s Serie A stint, scoring 74 times in the league. He then dropped to the third division of Italian football, then known as the Lega Pro Prima Divisione to join Lecce, the team he supported as a child.

He narrowly missed out on promotion twice at the club before leaving, but it was the story of him dropping the divisions and joining the club he had loved all his life that shone a light on him and the club. 

Antonio Cassano – Bari

Antonio Cassano was born in Bari, brought up in poverty there and started his career for the the Galletti. He made headlines in 1999 at just 17 years old when he scored a wonder goal against Inter Milan to win Bari the game. It was a goal of sheer magic, showcasing his incredible technical talent.

Cassano went on to play for the likes of Roma, Real Madrid, Inter and Milan – a fantastic journey stemming from an eye-catching start to life on the Adriatic coast of southern Italy – but will forever be associated with his hometown team.

In some ways, his career never got better than that goal against Inter.

Filippo Inzaghi – Piacenza

Filippo Inzaghi is a revered name in Italian football, sitting as one of many legendary strikers thanks to his incredible career at Juventus and AC Milan. Cast back to the start of his career, though, and it started at a small club – Piacenza – who currently ply their trade in the fourth tier of Italian football.

Piacenza are his hometown club, too, and he scored 15 league goals in the 1994-95 season to help them win Serie B and gain promotion to Serie A. He left following promotion to join Parma and then went on to become one of the best strikers in the game’s history.

The start of his career, though, put the Biancorossi on the map, even if just for a little while. 

Roberto Baggio – Brescia

If you ask anyone in football why they’ve heard of Brescia, the majority will say Roberto Baggio.

He joined the club late in his career, turning down interest from the likes of Reggina, Napoli and even Barcelona to join Carlo Mazzone’s side. Baggio stayed in Italy to help Brescia survive relegation and also to better position himself for a call-up for the 2002 World Cup.

Baggio enjoyed an Indian summer with the Rondinelle, reaching double figures in each of his four seasons and helping the provincial side stay in Serie A for four consecutive years, something they’ve never done before or since.

Baggio’s presence at the club helped Brescia sign the likes of a young Luca Toni and an ageing Pep Guardiola, who witnessed the greatness of Baggio firsthand.

“If I cry, then I apologise, but I get emotional when talking about Baggio,” said Guardiola of Il Divin Codino recently.

“I got to know him at the end of his career when his knee was full of scars. He could barely move and still he was the best, I can only imagine what he was like during his best years.”

Baggio guided Brescia into the Intertoto Cup, where only a Ronaldinho-led Paris Saint-Germain side denied them entry into the Uefa Cup. So good was Baggio at Brescia they retired the number 10 in his honour after 45 goals and a catalogue of wonder goals, with his masterpiece being the two-touch strike against Juventus in April 2001.

Often regarded as one of the best players ever, Baggio’s time at Brescia was a romantic’s dream and he helped the Biancazzurri to their longest spell in Serie A, raising the profile of the club. 

Baggio was included in Gianfranco Zola’s Best Teammates XI. Do you agree with the former Napoli attacker’s lineup? Watch on YouTube