Start planning, the Serie A fixtures for 2025-26 have been released.

Ardent Italian football fans will be looking closely at the travel guides to see how many games they can squeeze into a weekend. 

For the more casual enthusiast, there will be a glance at the schedule to perhaps plot a jaunt over to the land of pasta, pizza, coffee and calcio at some stage in the campaign.

Of course, the marquee fixtures such as the Derby della Madonnina, the Derby della Capitale and the Derby d’Italia will be on everyone’s radar.

But there are lesser-known treats to be had in the top flight next season, and here are three you shouldn’t miss.

Pisa vs Fiorentina

These two have not met in the top flight of the Italian game for 34 years.

The Pisa-Fiorentina rivalry stretches back centuries. Long before football the cities sided with opposing political factions in the Middle Ages, sparking the fuse.

With Florence landlocked and having no access to the sea, unlike Pisa, the former had to pay exorbitant amounts to be able to conduct maritime trade. This created tension.

Battle commenced and Florence managed to occupy Pisa in 1406. Separated by only 48 miles, there has been a frosty relationship ever since.

While Livorno are the team Pisani hate the most, this is the fixture they will look out for.

These two last played a Serie A match at the Garibaldi in October 1990. Pisa suffered a demoralising 4-0 trashing in what was a horrendous season. 

Pisa had come up from Serie B the year prior, but their time back in the spotlight was not to last. They finished 16th in 1990-91 and have been in the wilderness ever since.

With Empoli relegated at the end of last season, Serie A would have been without a Tuscan derby if not for Pippo Inzaghi and his Pisa side.

Considering flights to Pisa are regular throughout Europe, this should be one to put in the calendar for calcio casuals and purists. 

Verona vs Napoli

A low-key rivalry, historically there was little angst between Verona and Napoli until the 1980s. 

Diego Maradona made his debut for the Partenopei in September 1984 against Verona at the Stadio Bentegodi, and it is here the needle began in earnest. 

“We went up north and, wherever we went, they put up banners that said, ‘Wash yourselves’. It was disgusting. They were all racists,” said Maradona in his 2000 autobiography El Diego.

Verona ultras introduced Maradona to his first glimpses of that racism. He would see “Welcome to Italy” and “lavatevi (wash yourself)” banners from the Curva Sud, and he never forgot it.

In October 1985 he produced a masterclass against the Serie A champions in Naples, scoring the third in a 5-0 battering by lobbing Verona goalkeeper Giuliano Giuliani from 50 yards.

Since then, both sets of ultras have traded barbs via banners during their games. Owing to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, set in the city of Verona, Napoli fans have zeroed in on this over the years.

When Destination Calcio went to this fixture at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, Napoli’s ultras unfurled a “Romeo knows Giulietta from OnlyFans” banner inside the Bentegodi, which was taken down rather promptly.

Verona ultras’ lean towards fascism in the last 40 years has won them little favour in Italy. 

They came in for widespread criticism in 2022 when they produced a banner depicting Russian and Ukraine flags with the coordinates for the city of Naples. The implication being that, with the onset of the Ukraine-Russia war, bombs should be dropped on Naples as well.

Former Napoli players such as Victor Osimhen and Kalidou Koulibaly have been racially abused when playing at the Bentegodi. 

It is a fixture littered with controversy and this makes for an emotionally charged atmosphere. It is one you should put on your bucket list.

Bologna vs Parma 

The Derby dell’Emilia could be rechristened Serie A’s Derby del Cibo (derby of food), with Bologna and Parma having a claim to being the epicentre of the nation’s culinary scene.

Only 50 or so miles separate the cities in Emilia-Romagna. Yet despite Parma and Bologna being well over a century old, they have not met that many times.

The first encounter did not happen until 1983 when they were languishing in the doldrums of Serie C1.

Their first bout in Serie A came in 1990-91, but with Bologna’s relegation at the end of the season, they would not meet again for another five years. 

They very nearly squared off in the 1999 UEFA Cup final when both made the semis. Parma made it to the showpiece event in Moscow after seeing off Atletico Madrid, while Bologna agonisingly came up short against Marseille, losing on away goals.

The rivalry perhaps reached its zenith in 2004-05, when they ended up in a Serie A relegation play-out.

Bologna won the first leg 1-0 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini before Parma overturned the score thanks to goals from Giuseppe Cardone and Alberto Gilardino. Parma remained, and Bologna went down to Serie B for the first time in nearly a decade.

Last season, these two played again after Parma this time won promotion to Serie A. The Gialloblu emerged with four points from six against Vincenzo Italiano’s Coppa Italia winners.

This is a battle of formaggi against salumi; parmigiano against ragu; prosciutto against lasagna.

Bologna is one of the underrated highlights of a trip to Italy. Make sure to visit for the best of football, food and a dabble of nightlife.