The Legacy of Italy’s Footballing Partisans

Many Italian stadiums are named after former players or administrators. At least six stadiums, from Torino’s in the north to Juve Stabia’s in Campania, are named after members of the iconic Il Grande Torino side. But what about Italy’s partisan footballers?

First, some background…

Italy in World War II

Italian dictator Mussolini had aligned himself with fellow fascist Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, Italy was bound by their alliance to take their side, known as the ‘Axis’. However, Mussolini only got involved militarily once France succumbed in June 1940.

Italy’s war was disastrous from the off, suffering setbacks in Greece, Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia), and North Africa. The Allies – made up mostly of British, Americans and Commonwealth forces – pushed up from North Africa into Italy via Sicily in July 1943. The end was in sight for Mussolini, and the Fascist Grand Council demanded Il Duce’s resignation on 25 July 1943. He was arrested but eventually broken out by the Germans and taken to the north. As the Allies advanced northwards, Italy swapped sides on 8 September, but the peninsula was split along the ‘Gothic Line’ between the Allied-occupied south and the Nazi/fascist-controlled north, known as the Republic of Salò, with Mussolini as its puppet head. Many footballers took up arms to fight fascism and joined the partisans.

Where to find the memory of Italian footballing partisans

One of the most famous Italian footballing partisans was former Fiorentina star Bruno Neri. In the very first match at Fiorentina’s ground (now called the Stadio Artemio Franchi), Neri is photographed very consciously avoiding giving the outstretched arm of the Roman salute. He joined the partisans in 1943 and died in a shootout on 10 July 1944, having been ambushed by German troops. A plaque in the Apennine mountains marks the spot where he and a colleague perished. The stadium of Neri’s hometown club Faenza was named after him in 1946.

In the western port of La Spezia, the local side – made up mostly of firefighters – became Italian wartime champions in 1944, beating Vittorio Pozzo’s Torino side. At least four members of the Spezia Calcio side were active partisans. One of them, Astorre Tanca, helped disrupt Nazi supply routes in the occupied north and died in 1943 holding off a Nazi advance singlehandedly with his machine gun, buying his comrades time to escape, until his fun finally jammed. He now has a sports complex named after him in La Spezia.

In nearby Sarzana, the Stadio Mio Luperi is named after former ASD Sarzana goalkeeper who, like Tanca, died holding off a German attack while his colleagues escaped.  Elsewhere in Italy, Virtus Entella’s stadium is named after partisan Aldo Gastaldi and Carpi plays at the Stadio Sandro Cabassi, who was captured by fascists and killed by firing squad. In Milan in 2021, a street was named Via Calciatrici del ’33 (Way of the Women Footballers of ’33) in honour of a group of women who played football despite orders from the fascist government not to.

The highest profile stadium named after the victims of fascism is probably Empoli’s Stadio Carlo Castellani. He joined the club in 1926 aged 17, becoming its leading goalscorer for 70 years. During the war, Carlo’s father David Castellani was a known anti-fascist. During a fascist round-up of people it saw as agitators in March 1944, Carlo answered a knock on the door. It was the police looking for David. Carlo went to the police station to answer their questions believing whatever their query was could be resolved. He never returned. Castellani was bundled onto a train to the infamous Nazi camp of Mauthausen in Austria and died there of dysentery five months later. 

Empoli Calcio’s municipal stadium was named after Castellani in 1965 and many Empoli fans have visited Mauthausen and left scarves in his memory.

Many other Italian footballers became partisans and played a critical role in the downfall on fascism on the peninsula and other Italian-occupied areas, such as Croatia. You can discover more in my book, The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism, which is out NOW via Pitch Publishing.