In a region home to Italy's most prestigious places and home to Italy's most prestigious derby Lies two hard working provinces who may not have the prestige But have just as incredible a rivalry of their own That hasn't seen a derby, in more than a decade Until now It's Derby Days, Lombardia The first in over thirteen years Considered the country's richest, most powerful region Lombardia, all the way up in Italy's north Has a lot to boast about within it’s 11 provinces Lombardia, or Lombardy It's the richest region in the country If you split up Italy Between north and south The Northern part of Italy is probably the richest region in all of Europe Whilst the south is one of the poorest All the finances in the country are concentrated up North The banks The treasuries The Export sector is really, really booming here There's the province of Como Home to the world famous lake That's become the getaway to Hollywood's rich and famous Lake Como is one of the world's most bountiful lakes in the world George Clooney has a mansion there Typical fancy houses out there People along the lake Very touristy It’s luxury lifestyle, mansions and villas and hotels There’s the province of Monza and Brianza Home to the, world famous legendary F1 Racetrack, That’s the Pride of Italian Motorsport Formula One, it’s not exactly a poor man's sport The F1 that you’ve got in Monza It’s kind of the pride of racing in Italy One of the most important when Ferrari started out The one track that’s always been in Formula One races When you’re talking about a country that produces Lamborghini's Produces Ferrari’s Motorsport is obviously a really big deal And of course, the province of Milan Home to the crown jewel And capital city of the region That of course boasts the same name It’s always been the centre, the capital of Lombardia All the big families of Northern Italy, the Sforza’s The big Sfigonstsi’s Built out and rendered out Milan this sort of incredible city World famous in it’s own right. Milan is considered the leading centre of fashion, design and finance For not just Lombardia But the whole of Italy It’s our own London You can get anything you want in Milan This important city of trade and business They’ve got eight universities It’s the fashion city Being fancy, being elegant Quite glamorous They got quite a glamorous lifestyle Doing things in that certain way Carrying yourself in that certain way And then of course there’s the city’s two world famous football clubs The two football clubs of Milan need no introduction There's AC Milan And Inter Milan Between the two of them that's 10 UCL titles Before Real Madrid's recent period of success In terms of UCL titles It was the most successful city in the world And of course, Milan’s world famous derby… The Derby of Milan Or the Derby Della Madonnina When it comes to players. titles decided Levels of choreography and support The way that the stadium gets packed out Sponsorship and TV revenue It is, the biggest match in Italian football By far But take just a short drive east of this city And you’ll find Brescia and Bergamo Two other Lombardian provinces Who may not have the and prestige and glamour of Como or Monza But have played just as significant a role in so much of what this region and it's capital is today You see there's a reason they call these two provinces The Engine of Lombardia They produce a huge amount of wealth for this part of the world They’re the most productive, they’re the most constructive It’s an economic engine Here in Brescia and Bergamo It’s a powerhouse of the Italian economy, really The ratio of manufacturing sites and factories is really, really high You know, it’s busy, industrious Brescia is basically dedicated to agriculture and rural… Like farms? Yeah, Farms A lot of farms And mechanical manufacturers Whether it’s steel in Brescia Bricklaying in Bergamo Or construction in both This is a part of the world where sweat, toil and hard labour Is second nature If someone needs to build a major project in the centre of Milan The head of the construction will probably be Bresciani or Bergamascho So we’ve been in Milan for about five minutes Stopped at our first construction site Just to see if it really is true Within minutes, Martino has found someone They’re all from Bergamo or Brescia Is it from the resources? Are they physically bigger? It’s so difficult to have a tangible theory of it Bergamo and Brescia are very hard working People here say “Yeah, in these valleys we’re built more stocky” Famously hard working On another level there’s a lot of based resources that come from here Granite, brick making, steel Add to this nearly a millennium of battles and conflict There’s been fights and clashes since the middle ages So the vikings have been here? Yeah, yeah So, you’ve had periods of German invasions We are talking about the 12th century French invasions 11th century Austro Hungarian invasions Spanish? Yes Have been in Brescia and Bergamo? No, no, no, no Yes, also, but that is the... It's a big mess The 17th century was a big mess and the 18th century is even more And you’ve got yourself two provinces Where the people, here, really don’t mess around Maybe the Milanese are a bit posh, a bit fancy, a bit… always thinking about things in a very kind of metaphorical, philosophical sort of way And the Bresciano, the Bergamaso is… Bauscha, it’s almost like, Bao Bao, it’s onomonopaeic And the Bresciano, the Bergamasco is someone who’s concrete Someone who really does things and speaks about facts But it’s not only their culture of work and war That makes the Bresciani and Bergamaschi A little different to the rest of the Lombard region There's the accent Here they’ve almost embraced this idea of... this deep voice… In Milanese they speak like this A little bit posh, a little bit nasally And it sounds posh it sounds incredibly unique, to the extent that Anywhere someone from Bergamo or Brescia goes in Italy The first question they’ll get upon hearing they’re accent for about two seconds is… It really is this kind of low, bassy very much kind of deeper profound thing That almost gives you the sense of people being more from the land There’s the dialect It’s a different language Trying to understand someone in dialect here I’ll probably not understand a word And I speak fluent Italian So you get the use of German lettering in the local dialect You know, they use an Umlaut The signs of the classic beer of Brescia Have the Umlaut on them So the Wuhrer, it’s with the U The Umlaut from the German language? Yeah from the German language It’s a weird phenomenon That comes from the fact that Because all these different city states were influenced by different powers around the world… They ended up taking on some of their linguistic origins We got an expression which is Reus! Which means, “Oh Come on, get out of here! Reus” It’s strictly German Because of the German invasion and the German influence But they've both got words that they only use in these provinces? Yeah exactly… Pota… right I mean yeah you gotta be careful who you say Pota around It's sometimes used as a swear word Let's say I wouldn't say Pota in front of my grandmother And of course, this being Italy There’s the food… Casoncelli is just this specific type of Raviolo Casoncelli is Brescia and Bergamo But the way you fold the Casencello With the “Forma de caramelo” Which is like, a candy wrapper It becomes a very distinct way of doing things But they take the Casoncelli very seriously here? Of course, everyone takes these things extremely seriously The debates about how you cook food, is deeply felt you know we’re in Italy And whilst this productive lifestyle is a point of pride for those locally In a region like Lombardia where glamour and wealth is held in such high regard The people of Bergamo and Brescia, are often subject to patronising labels from their fellow Lombardians Il Muratore (The construction workers) So there’s this idea of stereotyping, right? The Bergamaschi the Bresciani, they’re Muratroe They’re constructions workers But the Muratore don’t seem to mind at all And in fact they’ve flipped that label on its head and now use it as a badge of honour In fact, according to locals here if it wasn’t for the Muratore, Lombardia wouldn’t boast the glamorous capital it has today… Brescia and Bergamo, and the people of these cities physically built Milan After the second world war Milan was at the centre of many Bombings? Yeah, Bombings So everything needed to be rebuilt Italy was urging to find forces and resources to build everything… Literally everything up And they got, you know, from the north Lots of hard working men and workers, eager to build But if you think their industrious nature and worth ethic is a point of pride Just wait until you hear about their football clubs Brescia Calcio of Brescia And Atalanta BC of Bergamo Now don’t get it mixed up Just because at first you don’t see the province name in the club title Don’t think that Atalanta B.C isn’t proudly Bergamasca In fact if we’ve heard one thing in this city over and over again It's that: Atalanta is life for us It really is the case, that 95 percent of people Born in this province of Italy Support Atalanta For Bergamo, Atalanta, is one part One enormous part for life for Bergamasco If you have a baby and it’s birthed in Bergamo At the hospital they will give that baby… An Atalanta shirt Supported by the club as a tradition To ensure that people, from birth, are supporting their local team And it’s this tribal obsession with their club That means Bergamo has created one of the best matchday atmospheres in all of Italian club football Every match is a party, "una festa" For us You are the choreography We are all, one choreography for Atalanta Only Atalanta When we go to the stadium You don’t say “I go to the stadium” “We go to Atalanta” And actually, if you look a little closer The club’s connection to the province can still be found in the name, Thanks to their unique acronym BC Standing for Bergamasca Calcio So a lot of Italian football clubs start as multi sports clubs For instance AC Milan started as a cricket club and often they'll have an acronyms in their name to represent that so the perfect example is SS Lazio or sports society Lazio they’ve provided more Olympic athletes to Italy than anyone else… For sport in Bergamo, it’s Atalanta, There is no volleyball There is no basketball But here at Atalanta, it's BC for Bergamo Calcio the Italian word for football because in this province it’s football and football only And as for the name Atalanta Well that comes from the Greek Mythological character Known for her athleticism She’s like a mythical ancient Greek Nymph Who was basically challenged by her whole village or town In her ancient greek nymph world She would marry anyone who could beat her in the race as the legend goes And whilst just a mere nymph in greek mythology The fanatic Bergamaschi took it upon themselves To elevate Atalanta to a whole new status Look it doesn’t matter what the myth is The point is That Atalanta has become so important to the province That in the 90’s they nicknamed it La Dea Which means ”The goddess” Today La Dea, is omnipresent in Bergamo Exemplified by ‘Le Festa Della La Dea’ Which has become the biggest footballing party in the province, the region perhaps even the country La Festa della Dea, which basically involves 70,000 people over five days Coming to a big carnival that the ultras set up All through volunteer work It’s got beer, concerts, So they introduce the new signings on like what are ostensibly Insane vehicles Whether it’s a construction truck A tank An F20 fighter jet Yeah it’s been a number of crazy different vehicles that they bring in Either Ex legends, current players, the coach The purpose is... A) to engage the entire city in Atalanta And remind people in a provincial town You might not have much to celebrate for So your festival Della Dea, that’s your big celebration The most beautiful thing about it Is it raises tons of money for charitable projects in the area The proceeds of La Festa Della Go and they become the front line and direct action to go and help communities Around the province of Bergamo and even Italy In a fitting reflection of the people of this province Atalanta BC is a club that prioritises hard work and sweating the shirt Always sweat through the shirt from a Boca Juniors To even Marseille But it’s something that really applies, again, to the Bergamasco attitude And in a fitting reflection of the story of the region Atalanta BC is a club that has contributed a hell of a lot to the Milanese football clubs There's of course Inzaghi and Donadoni Who are two of the most important players in Milan's recent history And just like the clubs of Milan, Atalanta BC has a pretty intense rivalry of it's own with none other than Brescia Calcio Now here at Brescia Calcio it isn’t a Greek goddess they revere, but a symbol, they consider just as iconic It’s everywhere in the province from the walls to the kits Its…the V Otherwise known as “La Vue” Yeah we got a White V It's iconic So Brescia supposedly took on the V Because they wanted to play at the stadium of Of nearby club, Virtus Now ever since, they've kept that And nearly a century later They're one of the only clubs to have such a distinguished shirt In fact, according to some, The V is so important It’s the reason for their nickname Le Rondinelle, or the “The little swallows” It reminds you of the movement of the wings However, according to others, it comes from a different story Torino you have to think was one of the most dominant teams in Italy Over the early periods of football basically And whilst the story behind the nickname for “Little Swallows” might up for debate The story behind their other nickname surely isn't… "La Lionessa" (The Lioness) And that takes its name of course from The city’s resistance to the Austro Hungarian Empire The most courageous The bravest To resist ten days in a row against The Austrian Hungarian empire While Milan, lasted just five Now they may not have the most glorious past And whilst they may have spent most of their time in the second division Statistically in the league that has been existing since the beginning of the 1900’s No team has ever played more seasons in Serie B Than Brescia… There's a reason Brescia Calcio is known the world over It is undeniable that Brescia Calcio is one of the most iconic clubs in all of Italian football First there were the 1990’s, where Hagi on the pitch and Lucescu on the sidelines took this club all the way to Wembley With the Anglo Italia Cup Then it was the early 2000’s where this stadio Marco Rigamonti Played home to names like Guardiola, Luca Toni and of course Roberto Baggio We could easily dream about UEFA CUP We could easily, regularly dream about Being in the first 8 teams in the league And all of a sudden Brescia starts playing an amazing level of football In which a team that is perennially in Serie B Becomes one of the most impressive sides in Serie A They made some cup finals didn’t they? The InterToto Cup? Yeah They made the Quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia final Yeah That’s when they had their highest placed finish? 8th in Serie A? Exactly Not to mention the Brescia born and raised Andrea Pirlo Pirlo is such a typical Bresciano That to this day His family is still involved in the local steel trade In fact if it wasn’t for Brescia Calcio many say the footballing world would have never enjoyed or seen the best of the Italian maestro Mazzone came up with the idea of moving Pirlo backwards Behind the midfielders it was a totally different ball game And you know, He won the World Cup He won two UCL titles with AC Milan So... Now also reflecting the story of the province on the pitch Brescia Calcio is a club that prioritises hard work and defending your territory And in a fitting reflecting of the story of the region Brescia is also a place that has helped build the clubs Milan So obviously you've got Pirlo, which is a big name But it's not jsut the players who played for Brescia the club There's the players who came from Brescia the province You've got for instance, the Baresi brothers which is crazy Which is an insane story of it's own So Franco Baresi Franco Baresi played for Milan For AC Milan, Paolo Baresi played for Inter And Beppe played for Inter They're from Brescia? Yeah They didn’t even make it to the club of Brescia… Never Before Both Milanese teams... Took them? One and one But it sums it all up You guys didn’t just build the cities, you guys are building these clubs And then of course there's Balotelli Who at 17 wins the UCL with Inter Comes back and ends up at AC Milan and has one of his best seasons in Italy And now playing for his hometown club And just like Bergamo, Brescia feels just as strongly about their local rivalry… Now at first, the idea of Brescia and Bergamo considering each other their biggest rivals seems a little absurd. I mean in relation to the rest of this seemingly well to do region it’s these two humble hardworking provinces that actually have the most in common… Until you realise, that’s exactly what this rivalry is all about… In a lot of ways, it’s a derby about similarities It's what makes them so twinned You know, they keep saying, ah they’re our cousins Someone put it to me really interestingly before right They were like If racism is a fear of something different from you If people are racist because they’re afraid of something they don’t understand Here, the rivalry, and almost the anger and the tension that comes of this thing Is a fear of being too the same Remember that accent they both share... well, they both dispute that… They tend to strict vowels We tend to widen them… And that Dialect they supposedly have in common Well that starts arguments as well And as for the food they share Well, that’s where they really don’t they really don’t see eye to eye If you speak with a Bergamasco Casoncelli is ours If you speak to someone from Brescia Casoncelli is ours And this rivalry makes even more sense when you look into the tale of these historic provinces Where it’s evident that for centuries there’s been no love lost between Brescia and Bergamo No it’s impossible to be friends Because there are historical problems I think the first conflict That's recorded in history on the Fume de Firano Is in 1119 So this is just the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire You have battles which like in one day 2500 people die Which may not seem like a gargantuan number in some sense Versus like World war two levels of battles But you have to think that in the 1100s that was probably one third of your male population that would just go in a day But basically some guy tried to sell off some of the feudal castles In order to fund his crusades As of that villages of Brescia and Bergamo started fighting over possession of who owned that land . It led to thousands of Massacres along a river They started one battle in 1125 Then they have another battle in 1196 Even in the 1200’s Brescia was allied with Milan To support the Roman republic While Bergamo was allied with the Vatican To support the Papal state Then of course, There's the uniquely Italian concept of Campanalismo…. So to understand Italy and particularly this derby You have to get the concept Camapnlismo Which is bell towerism or colloquialism Every little town in Italy Built their own belltower It’s a timekeeper It's a way of drawing the community together It’s a way of getting people to church on time Letting people know when dinner is That belltower holds a special significance for every town because it’s what created the cohesiveness of the town It's this idea of the micro differences that happen between these territories So the Bell Tower also, is a a call to arms when it needs to be You have to get to this idea Italy, unites as a nation Finally, in 1871, with Rome as it's capital - But before that? It’s a bunch of divided city states So Italy has only been united for like… Less time than the United States? Yeah it’s one of the youngest countries in Europe technically I don’t think there's anywhere else in the world where the rivalry between neighbouring cities is So epic And you’re living in these micro communities walled in… Look where we are right now Before the advent of the car How the hell am I supposed to open myself up to another culture or tradition It becomes very insular And so through that insularity of the whole thing You start forming… Different languages Even your way of speaking When you’re locked in your castle walls For four hundred years Becomes different from the person 20 kilometres over Different dialects Here we’re talking a donkey cart’s ride away And it’s completely different There’s different saints Your own dukes marrying some other person Different culinary traditions Different ways of eating based on your local natural resources Italy has got more grape varieties than the rest of the world put together Because they treasure their own produce And that’s just the nature of things in Italy Italy has got more surnames than the whole of China Because they’re so proud of what they’re name is and they won’t unify and come together So, when Italians look at derbys abroad… They kind of think it’s slightly funny Cause there is no real difference Apart from the colour of the flag or the scarf… Whereas here, they feel like a different people They’re a different tribe And yet they’re very similar as you say They’re only thirty miles apart And so with a United Italy meaning The bloody battle of city states Is now a thing of the past How does Campanilismo still play out? Once all of a sudden when you get a united country in 1871 What comes as exploding as sort of a sport? In the 1890's? Football They don’t fight between dynasties anymore You don’t have wars anymore because everyone’s unified and you've been through about 65 years of killing each other So if in 1871, you finally get the unification of Italy In the 1890’s you get the first football clubs and having this sport, having this form of competition Is a way of playing out these micro tensions between these places Those rivalries between the fans are a sort of almost like a historical re enactment of those fights through the centuries And boy has this derby allowed Campanalismo to thrive here in Lombardia Campanilismo and football are indelibly tied together Surprisingly, many say that this rivalry really didn't kick off until the 90’s With a particular derby in 1993 So it kicks off mid way through the match When a couple of the supporters from the travelling Atalanta contingent got onto the pitch and got their hands on a Brescia banner The Brescia fans well, they weren't having it And before you know it a melee for the ages ensues that starts in the stands and ended up on the pitch and by the end of it Five are arrested and 20 end up in hospital There was the time the Brescia Ultras released rabbits onto the pitch an old italian insult that insinuates cowardice on your enemy’s part There was the derby which saw Atalanta do the same with a piglet How did they get it into the stadium? Yeah, well we all remember that one Then of course there’s the manifestation of Campanalismo at the Festa Della Dea Basically there was a collector in the city Who collects old War War Two vehicles They managed to get their hands on an American tank They took that tank And found two old cars One they painted in the colours of their rivals Brescia They put the ultras, the coach and some of the players on that tank Drive it through a festival of 10,000 people And procceed to drive over the cars with that Tank They even had the Brescia And the words "Brescia Suni" painted on the door Then there is the history of brilliant TIFOS Each one, more offensive and inventive then the next The Atalanta Ultras raised a giant pig through helium baloons That rose up behind the stands And the year 1911 which is the year of Which is the year of Brescia's founding But no fixture embodies the spirit of this rivalry more than the Derby of September 2001 Mazzone is the worst Up 3 - 1 away deep into the second half the travelling Atalanta fans, were soaking up their expected victory by insulting Brescia coach Carlo Mazzone Because during the match… You see, Mazzone, a very eccentric character himself Hailed from Rome a place of which the Bergamaschi also share a strong rivalry… So there's a massive rivalry between these two provinces and Rome But that's for a whole other documentary And so when Baggio, scored for Brescia to to make it 2 - 3 Mazonne, who had been stewing on the sidelines taking in all kinds of insults about his place of birth and his mother Turned to the travelling Atalanta fans and made a promise And so in the final minutes… Brescia equalise with that third goal They still talk about the reaction In the Brescia stands to this day But it was on the sidelines with Mazzone Where the real chaos unfolded Nothing and nobody was going to stop him… And despite having retired years ago Mazzone still lives on in the hearts, minds and TIFO’s of both sides of the rivalry, to this day The Atalanta Ultras wrote "Mazzone Alevatore" Which means, "Mazzone: Pig Farmer" But it’s historical. now... Everyone in Italy now remembers, this run of Mazzone The run of Mazzone! However the last time they met Was over a dozen years ago Here in Bergamo for the 2006 Serie B season Which saw Atalanta win and eventually go up that year And for the most part since then the two have occupied completely separate worlds… They haven't played each other in the last 13 years Because on one level Brescia is pretty much perpetually in Serie B And Bergamo, Atalanta Has been living its biggest period Atalanta, especially in the past half decade Have now become a bonafide force in Italian football First they qualified for the Europa League It’s a dream Then they made the Coppa Italia Final We are living a dream Now they’re playing the Champions League, knock outs Only a dream This is not an ambition for us This is a paradise for us Meanwhile Brescia Calcio for the most part have stayed rooted in their usual home of the second division And the one season Brescia did go up they still didn’t get a derby The one year they got close you actually had a switch around Which was around 2010 Where Atalanta went down Brescia went up for a season and then they switched back All which has led to the longest derby drought in the history of this rivalry But that all changed last season as Brescia Calcio finally refound their Leonesa spirit Led by Sandra Tonali another playmaker whose born and raised in Brescia and sports an iconic mop top Brescia fans could be forgiven for thinking they were having a sense of deja vu Sandro Tonali is the second coming of Andrea Pirlo He's got the hairdo The whole city just feels like they've managed another thing that goes into the sense of the pride of being Bresciano is Ah yeah we cranked out another one And so it would be the 2019/2020 Serie A season that would finally give these two provinces another derby to play host to their brilliantly unique, ancient rivalry… That is until this week… When a spanner was thrown in the works You see, here in Italy football fans have been suffering under increasingly draconian measures from all levels of authority year on year The mistreatment of fans, has meant that it’s almost untenable The constant frisking and harrasment Whether it's rising ticket prices The laws of supply and demand don’t work in Italian football as the demand for stadium tickets goes down for all sorts of controversial reasons The ticket prices are going up over zealously applied stadium bans The situation with stadium bans in Italy Is completely absurd You don't go before a judge and a jury You go before the head policeman or head police woman, in the city I mean in what other situation can the police be the judge and jury you know, people are given stadium bans for years and years it's very expensive to fight it in the courts but many do fight it in the courts you could potentially go through four or five years without going to a stadium and they're often found innocent bcause there's absolutely no evidence but by then they've missed four years of matches Heavy handed policing Both sides of this rivalry have been on the receiving end of increasing police brutality who was beaten by police put into a coma he'd lost the entirety of his memory and on the Bergamo side there has been many cases most notably, there's been the Fiorentina bus incident And perhaps most controversially Italy’s FAN ID system, known here as La Tessera Del Tifoso So the Tessera Del Tifoso is the so called loyalty card They tried to introduce So in order to register the Tessera you take a photo of yourself You get fingerprinted Basically all of your information then gets condensed into this bank card It was obligatory and it's no longer obligatory but it is still obligatory for certain games Now the Tessera Del Tifoso was Implemented here to reduce fan violence amongst supporter groups Which had become a problem here in Italy However according to football experts It's done quite the opposite and has become a detriment to the game for a whole host of reasons The imposition of finances for the fact that all your information has been given up for the fact that it's not equal opportunity and all access for everyone and the fact that its restrictive to people who live in certain areas of the country fans across the spectrum saw this position of the Tessera Del Tifoso as something really wrong and a representation of football in it's kind of darkest, ugliest sense the countrys with the most succesful models of football fandom aren't imposing this thing And so the fans most affected by this are the Ultras something in Italy and in particular these two provinces that are fundamental to not only the football scene but the community Of course the Ultras are going to be more important at these provincial clubs Because you're never going to have the draw of Inter and Juve and the big stars that they can bring your chances of trophies are so much less so whats going to attract a young kid to the stadium? It's going to be the atmosphere that the ultras bring And so, ask anyone Brescia Calcio fan what’s been the constant beating heart of the club from Wembley 94 to nearly going down to Serie C and they'll tell you... So Brescia obviously have a really important Ultras scene because First of all they've always had a really big level of support Second of all It's the connection with AC Milan The Ultras of AC Milan are credited with being the first group to call themselves Ultras in Italy with the estabslihment of the Fosse Lione in the late 1960's and as a result of that, having this old connection They've really been there and been a key component to some of the biggest moments in Italian supporter culture And if the Ultra’s are at the heart of Brescia Calcio Then the Ultras are the heart, body mind and soul of Atalanta When it comes to their Ultras They've always been one of the most powerful and intimidating supporter groups in the country by far They travel consistently so well You go up against Milan City of millions of people You go up against Juventus Who's got little pockets of supporters all over the country You go up against Napoli another city of millions of people and you know who stands the test of all of them? and who everyone respects? on some level Atalanta supporters Perhaps nothing encapsulates the importance and significance of the Ultras to Atalanta and Bergamo more than one man in particular They've got an Ultras leader called "Il Bocia" Il Bocia, which means the kid, he's an icon of the terrace But his real name is Claudio Who is, I think, admired by all the Ultras throughout Italy For various reasons Look, if Roma have Totti Juventus have Del Piero Milan have Maldini Atalanta have Boccia That's how much he means to this club He's unfied all the groups and he says, here, it’s not about politics it's not about making money Where so many other supporter groups have made money Off of ticket touting or other dodgy, nefarious activities It’s only about Atalanta Everything that has ever been raised within Atalanta's Northern curve Has gone directly back to sustaining Atalanta and the social activities that the group puts on According to many, so important is Il Bocia to Bergamo that in a recent church built in the province The likeness of his face Has been painted into the face of the christ That sits above the altar It's him it’s him, it’s him like everyone knows I guarantee you its him It’s Boccia right there… He went and presented it and had the community applaud for it And according to everyone Il Boccia and the Ultras are a vitally positive component to this club Whether it's raising money for Aquila and earthquakes that happened there Homeless people within the city Helping to deal with drug addiction in the city Those are all things and initiatives that he’s helped put on and spur on and help build the reputation of Atalanta And so, perhaps nothing encapsulates the extreme persecution and oppression of the Ultras scene more than what Il Boccia has suffered at the hand of the authorities So it’s almost become comical the level of repression that has faced Bocia So at first, he was caught showing a pigs head which in the context of this derby, not that crazy Then he was caught outside of a ground of a cup game that he didn't even know was playing and that led to another five year ban Five years Eli! This is no longer an instance Of the state trying to repress evil supporters who are doing Nefarious things This is the stage of Someone who really inspires And kind of thinks revolutionary about what Ultras could be And the state being scared of how inspiring he is to his community Now whilst Il Bocia himself will admit he isn’t innocent of all accusations in the past the fact of the matter is he wouldn’t receive such adulation and respect from the streets to the churches without having so positively contributed so much to the club and the community In Italy, we don’t take our churches lightly Replacing Jesus face on the cross Is not exactly a normal thing to do And the fact that he holds that significance here Speak to two things One, his importance for the community And two, how the community really see him as sacrificing so much for the community In a sense dying for their sins Because Il Boccia is seen to be this sort of sort of purist example of what the movement could be Claudio Libero Is the big phrase You've had protests Where supporters came over from all across the country and supported the initiative To see him be freed and be able to return to the stadium And so with another price rise on derby tickets Combined with the league authorities deciding to implement the Tesselate Del Tifoso system for this, the first derby in thirteen years the Atalanta ultras have decided to boycott the match And as a further sign of the respect the Ultras wield here the entire Atalanta fanbase, from families to fan clubs are also boycotting this much awaited fixture despite it only be forty minutes up the road... So what can we expect from this, the first Atalanta vs Brescia derby in more than like, what, thirteen years? What I can tell you is this game . is going to be on everyones lips the entire city is going to only thinking about this one match First off, you have to think in terms of media Go to a local kiosk on matchday And you'll see the local and national newspapers Talking about this game This weekend it's not about Juve It's not about AC Milan It's about Atalanta V Juve and this derby There will be pull outs, ten, twenty pages long only dedicated to this match and we're talking from Gazzeta dello Sport to Tuttosport local newspapers all of it will be looking at the gfreatneess of ARalanta Brescia Now outside the stadium You're going to have streams of people coming in from all over the province from even as early as morning time just to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the italian pre derby experience you're going to have people bringing their kids who are going to be experiencing the derby for the very first time You'll have adults who are rekindling old memories of probably some of their favourite match-day experiences and inside the ground you'll have every end of the Rigamonti stadium packed with home fans who were lucky enough to get their hands on tickets during the game you'll still have the nerves the chants the emotions the tensions but -but? but for this particular game, it's just not going to be the same and I can assure you, that's something nobody wants both on the Brescia and Bergamo side I'm fucking sad man believe me, I'm not nervous, I'm really sad I mean, what's a derby with only one set of fans? Who are the home fans chanting against? Who are the classic TIFO's poking fun directed at? Where's the new Mazzone going to run to? Im pretty sure that even the Brescia Ultras out of solidarity have decided to boycott doing any TIFO's Just for this match Even the insultory chants No matter how loud Brescia fans sing them Even they know, it's just not the same if you don't have your rivals there to listen Oh and imagine if Atalanta score Goal Atalanta! But again, this derby misses out A first derby goal in oveer thirteen years And no celebrations? It's absurd There's no real fans to celebrate and give us that Explosion of passion from the away end In the face of something that should be so celebratory And great for Italian football
