My Town, My Team – Napoli: A Local’s Guide to the City Crazy for its Calcio

Alessandro Tione is a 28-year-old photographer and tour guide from Naples. He is a Napoli fan who makes his living around the beautiful game, photographing every corner of his city, guiding tourists through the historic streets and telling stories of Diego Maradona. Alex also publishes photo books for his Religione Monoteistica project. For Destination Calcio’s My Town, My Team series, he explained why everybody should visit Naples at least once.

Why Napoli?

Growing up, my father, grandpa and sister supported, and still support, teams from north of Italy. The only teams I saw on TV when I was a kid were AC Milan and Juventus. But I discovered that my city had a football team. Napoli were in Serie C then. 

I knew about Maradona though. My father, even though he supported Milan, got a season ticket for Diego’s first season. He talked to me about Diego. He had the three Dutchmen at Milan – Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit – but he also had Maradona.

The first time I went was in 2008 against Milan. I was 10. I was with my father and supporting Milan because of him. His team lost yet I was happy. That first time I saw Napoli, everything changed. They won 3-1. It was beautiful. I chose them. 

There are some people in this city who don’t like football but it can be difficult as it is impossible not to feel involved when Napoli win. The city and the club – it is one thing.

Tell us more about the city

It’s unique, with a strong identity, one that you can recognise immediately from the language, from the sounds, from our lifestyle, from a lot of things.

There is a piece of Napoli everywhere in the world and when you are here in the city you can feel it, you can touch it. It’s something that you know about even if you’ve never been. It is a culture, a cult and everybody should visit here at least once in their life. 

It’s a little bit chaotic, it’s a little bit less organised, but that’s part of who we are. Our streets are not that good and our lights are not great… There has been work going on for several years. But that, again, is a mark of our culture.

For us, every day could be the last one. We live between two volcanoes. Vesuvius – the famous one – and in the north part of Napoli there is another, Campi Flegrei, that can explode. 

When people come here they can feel a different energy because we live with fire under our feet. This energy is inside us, it is part of us. Everything we do, we do with passion.

And how does football fit in?

There is always a little bit of anxiety and, of course, joy when Napoli are playing. You know you are going to your place in the stadium, your second home, to share 90 minutes with people and share their passion, their energy. 

I love going there. It’s almost like the quiet before the storm. I love meeting my friends and now, people from all over the world are there, too.

Many years ago there were more kids wearing the jerseys of Juventus, Inter and Milan. I have friends who support those three. 

But the third Scudetto (in 2023) changed a lot. And people know now that winning is not something that only happens every 33 years.

How significant was ending that long wait for a league title?

If you look at the map of Italy, the football map, all the trophies, the big trophies, Scudetti and Champions Leagues, they are in an area between Torino and Milano. So there are 100 more Scudetti, 12 Champions Leagues…

Under Napoli there is another country. There’s historical clubs – Reggina, Palermo, Catania, Messina – who haven’t won the major trophies.

There is a big economic difference between the two sides of the country, not only in football. But football is the mirror. 

If you want the best services, best universities, best hospitals, a better quality of life, you still need to go to the north. The south is different. 

When we won the third scudetto, people came from Sicily, from Calabria, from Pua just to celebrate. Not for the football team, for the people.

To win here is different. It’s a victory for the culture.

Diego understood these things immediately. He chose to come to a team that hadn’t won anything. To win here was a challenge. The south against the north.

How important is Maradona?

When we talk about him it’s not only about football. Diego was the representation that anything is possible. That everything is possible. It’s a mentality you can bring to everyday life.

He’s always with us, he’s always in our mind. Kids have the name Diego Armando, so the myth is still alive.

He was already a religion. After his death he arrived in another dimension.

I visit some less well known places on my Maradona tour and these are important to discover the city, to discover us, our character and how we live.

There is a garage, it is beautiful. It has so many posters from the 1980s, pieces of newspaper from the Maradona era until today. You can see Diego jumping on the shoulders of  Antonio Careca. There is a young Gianfranco Zola as well.

In the city there are so many places using pictures of Diego to attract customers and sell things. I don’t care about that stuff. I want to show the real passion of Neapolitan people for Diego and for football in general. 

There are some beautiful pictures of him.

Do you have a matchday routine? 

I don’t have any real superstitions but sometimes with my friend Joel, for a big match, we go to the Maradona mural in the Quartieri Spagnoli. We just pass on our scooter for a couple of minutes to watch Diego. We don’t speak.

 When you arrive at the neighbourhood where the stadium is, something inside your body is growing. To be there, to chant, support the team. It’s beautiful, it’s for the team, the city and the culture. It’s the most beautiful time of the week.”

We haven’t talked about pizza yet

Pizza is so important. It was born here in the 18th century but historians say it was around in the Roman Empire. It’s food that everybody should be able to buy. 

Maybe you can’t have a watch, or a dress or a chain… but everybody should have the right to pizza and a coffee. It’s a human thing.”

What’s your top tips for visitors?

Watch out for the scooters and motorbikes. Our streets are small, so open your eyes. And bring cash. People still need cash here because a lot of places don’t accept cards. But that’s another story.

I always recommend staying in a popular neighbourhood such as Rione Sanita or Quartieri Spangnoli. Not close to the Diego mural as it is so busy with tourists.

In Rione Sanita you can watch everyday life go by, walk in the market under the sky, see the fresh fruit, the vegetables, fish, the sellers… all the stereotypical things of our culture. Just sharing the same neighbourhood is an experience.

When going to the stadium, take the metro and go three hours early or it will be so busy. You can get there, have a beer and a bite to eat. You will find everything you need.