Football Travel: Atalanta

A one-hour train-ride east from Milan brings you to the ancient gothic city of Bergamo. Here, you’ll enjoy an almost South American atmosphere and see some exciting attacking football at Atalanta.

Here’s some trivia for you: which team from outside their country’s top flight has progressed the furthest in a UEFA tournament? Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio (BC) achieved this feat in the 1987-88 European Cup-Winners’ Cup, reaching the semi-final. Founded in 1907 through a merger of local clubs, Atalanta is named after the Greek athletic goddess and joined the Italian league in 1929.

Notable former players include the Inzaghi brothers, Trevor Francis, Roberto Donadoni, Giuseppe Meazza, Gaetano Scirea and Claudio Caniggia. At the time of writing in April 2019, the club is making a resurgence with an exciting attacking line and knocked Juventus out en route to the Coppa Italia final.

So exciting is Atalanta’s front line that when we went, the team scored four goals against struggling Bologna within the first 15 minutes. We later learned that this was the first time this had happened since 1932. The visitors just could not handle the craft of Josep Iličić and Duván Zapata.

The Atalanta matchday experience

The 21,300-capacity Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia is 2km east from the ancient Città Alta heart of Bergamo. UC Albinoleffe also uses the ground. It’s a tight-knit oval with two covered laterals and two open curve. We bought tickets online for €20 to stand in the Curva Morosini at the south end of the ground. We certainly felt the exposure to the elements in a biblical deluge. Coming out of an English winter, I was pretty annoyed to have swapped like for like weather on holiday but the locals were delighted – it hadn’t rained for months.

There are stands in Europe that don’t welcome outsiders – especially photo-taking tourists – but it was apparent early on that the Curva Morosini is a friendly curva. We got chatting to some of the locals, who were delighted with a season that sees the team in the Coppa Italia final and pushing hard for a Champions League spot. I was discreet with the photo taking, mind.

Due to the state of the stadium in recent seasons, Atalanta had to play its Europa League games in Sassuolo’s Mapei Stadium and more recent European Champions League matches at San Siro in Milan. The Curva Morosini is split in half between home and visiting supporters, so is a great place to experience Italian football ‘banter’. Despite the deluge and sea of brollies, the songs kept coming along with the occasional flare.

If you want to experience top-quality calcio in a proper old school ground, then get to Atalanta. Bergamo’s a decent enough city, too. It’s great just to amble around the Città Alta (High City) and discover the local food and drink. The cakes are top-notch.

How to get to Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, home of Atalanta BC

The Stadio is a fair walk from the old city. Most will alight at the main train station, which is about 3km away.