Category: travel

Calcio City Guides: Milan

So you’ve made it this far, you’ve decided you’re going to Milan to watch football. That’s great, you’ve made a fantastic choice. Not only are there two Serie A teams based there, the stadium they share is the most iconic in World football. There’s plenty of other options too, if you want to squeeze as much out of the trip as you can. Flights are cheap from London to Milan and there’s plenty of them available. So here’s the ultimate football fans guide to hanging out in Milan.

Getting Around

Couldn’t be easier in Milan. Depending on your airport there’s a few ways into town. From Malpensa just get on the train that goes from each terminal. They terminate at Centrale, but go through Porta Garibaldi too which is another of the main stations. Tickets are available at the kiosks in the terminal and the station, the machines change languages to make it easier. The train takes around 45 minutes and costs roughly €15.

If you’ve come in to Bergamo then you’re best bet is to take one of the coaches to Milan Centrale. For €10 you get 45-60 minutes sat on an air conditioned coach straight into the centre of Milan. You can also take a bus to Bergamo station, then an hour long train to Milan if you prefer but the coaches are easy enough. You can either pre-purchase tickets in the terminal or buy from the guys at each bus stop.

Taxis are available at both airports but cost around €150 each way to Milan, so I wouldn’t waste my time with them. There is a third airport, Linate, which is a bit like London City. Congratulations if you’ve landed here, you’re rich and flew BA. It’s on the main Metro network in Milan so very easy to the city centre from there.

Trams are clean, tidy and on time… mostly.

Speaking of the Metro, Milan has a really easy to use Metro system. It has 5 lines that all cross over with each other and connect to the vast Tram network too. You can buy an adult three day ticket for around €15 so getting around is so easy and so cheap. Just be a bit careful if visiting before the end of October, there’s major work being done to the tram lines so they’re running slightly odd routes at the moment.

The Metro is clean, well lit and efficient, used by everybody in Milan, it’s a safe and cheap way to get around the city.

Eating and Drinking

So the first thing to highlight is that Milan is really not a “party city” like places such as Prague, Budapest etc. but you can still have a pretty decent night out here. I would head to Isola where there’s a much younger vibe and the bars will be lively and loud. In the summer you can drink just about anywhere that has outside seating and have a nice chilled evening.

Speaking of chilled, in the evening before your meal, get to Navigli. The canal area is served by the M2 at Porta Genova station, and the canals are lined with bars and locals enjoying an aperativo before their dinner. Later at night this becomes a busy and very “cool” area.

Navigli is very chilled in the daytime, and comes alive at night.

Nightlife-wise, head down to Piazza Duomo after dinner. There’s some good clubs and bars in the vicinity of the Duomo, but be expected to pay a little more. More to the point, in the Piazza there will be crowds of people hanging out after a few beers, enjoying the night time views of the Duomo listening to street musicians, very nice vibes.

For food, you can’t really go wrong, this is Italy after all. However, one place we ALWAYS stop by in Milan is Piz! on Via Torino. The pizza place is a short walk from the Duomo and you should get a free glass of Prosecco while you wait as well as a limoncello to finish. The pizza menu consists of two pizzas and one “surprise” pizza. They won’t tell you what it is before it’s served, but you can tell them what you don’t want it to contain!

It’s ridiculously cheap for its quality and location, a plain margherita pizza will set you back around €9 – and it’s massive. Bring your football stickers, downstairs the walls are covered with them.

Piz!

The best advice on eating in Milan is to look a bit further than the end of your nose. If you like Italian food you can’t go wrong in Italy! Avoid eating in any of the major squares and Piazzas, if they have pictures of the food outside the restaurant it’s a red flag. If they have someone stood outside trying to get you in, it’s a red flag. Turn down the side streets, find the little family run place, it’ll be incredible.

It might seem an odd recommendation but if you like Indian there’s a great place near the San Siro which is smashing after a few beers at the football. Take the number 16 tram from the stadium to Via Dolci Via Ricciarelli and you’ll see it in front of you, Namaste Indian Restaurant. It says on Google it’s open until 10:30pm but I think that’s last entry because I’ve been in there after a 9pm kick off before! I know, you should be eating Italian food in Italy but it’s really convenient post match, open late and to be honest, is fantastic food.

Breakfasts are easy enough, again, look for any small family run cafe (there’s millions) and set yourself up with a Cappuccino and a pastry of some sort to experience an Italian breakfast like a true local. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than €10 for this breakfast in Milan.

Football

So if you’re going to Milan to watch football, you’re probably going to the San Siro to see either Inter or AC. But there’s a million other options that are so convenient. Before we go into that, here’s some advice on doing a San Siro tour. Firstly, definitely do it, it’s well worth it. But secondly, be aware that you can’t do it the day of or the day before a match. The day after I think it’s open, but you won’t be able to get in there on match day or the day before.

So to the other teams, you want a full on Calcio weekender? Can’t go wrong in Milan. Starting in the city of Milan itself, as well as Inter and AC, you have several Serie C teams. Alcione Milan, Inter U23 and Giana Erminio all call Milan home. Well, Giana actually play in Gorgonzola (yes the cheese place), but it’s on the Milan metro at the very end of M2 line.

AS Giani Erminio

Slightly further afield in Serie C you have Lecco (1 hour train) with spectacular views over Lake Como and the mountains from the stadium. In Serie B you have Monza (20 minutes train) and Mantova (1 hour train) all local to Milan and then, of course, in Serie A you also have Como (45 minutes train) up the road. You also have Atalanta playing in Bergamo which is accessed by around 45 minutes from Milan. Interested in Jamie Vardy? Cremonese play in Cremona around an hour’s train from Milan.

You can also end up in Switzerland watching football, I’ve done it before, the train to Chiasso takes around 1 hour from Milan and from there you can either watch Chiasso or SC Balerna if you want to squeeze two countries into your trip.

If you want my recommendation, the trip to Switzerland is good, but be aware of train times, an evening kick off rather than night game is as late as you want to be there. I’ve been to Como and Lecco to watch matches. Both are on different shores of Lake Como and both spectacular. However, you’ll probably struggle for Como tickets and the price of food and drink there isn’t smashing. Lecco offers the same beautiful backdrop while being a more affordable alternative. The town is still really nice and you can have a sunset beer by the lake before walking up to the ground. They also have lively ultras so the atmosphere will be more what you’re looking for.

Lecco

Other than that, Bergamo is beautiful too, but I’d recommend giving that and Atalanta their own trip rather than squeezing it into a Milan trip. I went to Gorgonzola to see Giani Erminia, the stadium is small and quaint, the town quiet but it’s worth a little trip out if you’re a fan of cheese.

Day Trips

We’ve sort of already covered it above with the football but if you’ve had your fill of Milan (and in truth you can see what you need to in two days) then head out of town for a day. Como and Lecco are again going to be two of the more popular choices, given the lake and the beauty of it. However, if you can find your way to Bellagio in between the two you’ll have uncovered a hidden gem. It’s not the easiest accessed place, which is how it remains so uniquely Italian, but it’s accessible the easiest by boat from Como or Varenna.

If walking up hills is more your thing, you need to hit Bergamo. The city is split into the upper city and lower city. And you’ll see why when you’re there. There is a funicular train that goes up to the upper city and that’s where the best food and drink and sights are. It’s a much more chilled and cheaper version of Milan and is a great place to spend the day with less people surrounding you. The train here is around 45 minutes from Milan and costs €6.

What to do in Milan

When you’re actually in Milan if you’re looking for a bit of culture or something to do other than football and drinking, then your next best bet is shopping. Milan is the fashion capital of the World and you’ll find every single designers flagship store here. Head to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Piazza Duomo to marvel at clothes you can’t afford. The Ferrari store is cool if you like large F1 cars hanging from a ceiling.

Ferrari store Milano

Around here as well you’ll find more reasonably priced designers behind the Duomo and down Via Torino is your normal high street brands. My daughter tells me that something called Kiko Milano is around half the price in Milan that it is in the UK so if you have girls, stop off and get a gift!

Other than shopping, history is everywhere in Italy and Milan is no different. Firstly, in the Duomo, a spectacular old cathedral the interior is absolutely magnificent. But as well as going inside, you can go on top of it. The Duomo rooftop gives great views of the Piazza below and most of Milan, take the lift though, it’s worth the extra few euros!

Duomo rooftop

Brera is the neighbourhood to go to if you like things a little trendier than historic. Great food options here as well as nice buildings for a walk around. You can get here on the M2 to Moscova station. Isola as mentioned above is a cooler neighbourhood nearby, think East London. the Bosco Verticale buildings that split the neighbourhoods are worth a quick photo.

If religious artwork is your thing, The Last Supper fresco by Leonardo Da Vinci is at the Santa Maria Della Grazie church near Sant Agostino station. You want to see this, you need to book early. Tickets are released on a monthly basis and go immediately. So much so that after 8 trips to Milan, I’ve still never seen it. Tickets then get gradually re-released so just keep an eye on the website. There’s a number of other Da Vinci themed things to do here too, like his private vineyards.

If you take Via Dante from the Piazza Duomo and walk around ten minutes (plenty of watering holes to break this up) then you’ll end up by the largest Inter Store, but more importantly there’s a big castle and large open air park at the top there. Perfect for a romantic stroll and some Instagrammable pics if you’re combining the football with a trip for the other half!

See if you can spot the flamingos kept in a private garden in the “posh end” of Milan too. Head to Palastro on the Metro and walk to Via Cappuccini, they’re just sat there grazing in a garden there. Quite bizarre.

That’s really it, like I’ve mentioned before, Milan isn’t a party city, nor is it a particularly busy city for tourist attractions. Milan is there to self indulge. The food and drink is great, the shopping is wonderful and the football is the heartbeat. It’s a city I’ve been to many times and each time I come back much more refreshed than when I went, which isn’t true of a lot of city breaks.

Take some time for yourself, do a bit of shopping, a bit of sight seeing, then eat some great food and sip on a cold beer and watch the world go by. All before taking in a match at the San Siro.

3rd Oct 2025
Calcio Weekender: CWC25 in Seattle

Back to chronicling some travel again on today’s blog and judging by its popularity last time out I’m calling it as being “Back by popular demand”.

And yes, I went over to everyone’s favourite football tournament, the FIFA Club World Cup. Now, I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m so open minded I was willing to give it a go, and when my pal Francesco suggested we fly over to experience it and watch Inter take on River Plate – I thought, “why the hell not”.

The first thing to say is, I’m not a millionaire, far from it! In fact I’m not even rich, I do ok in my job but high rent and cost of living means I generally live month to month. So how were we going to plan this properly? Tickets weren’t an issue (as is well publicised) and with our Inter Club Memberships we easily purchased tickets in the “Inter end” for the game, for around €120.

But how to get to America? Seattle is as far away from London as it can possibly be so this wasn’t going to be cheap. BA were after £1600 for return flights, Virgin wanted more and the American airlines seemed to want me to fly exclusively with BA. I tried looking at connecting options if I could get into New York with Fly Norse for cheap but to no avail.

Suddenly, Icelandair revealed itself to me. I’d heard rumours before that they were cheap due to some variation on long haul taxes in the Viking island. A quick check on their website confirmed it. Around a £1000 saving on the previous cheapest option. It seemed mad to me, £650? Really? to get to Seattle and back?

Now there’s a few caveats here, that was the base fare and didn’t include my seat or luggage. There’s a generous free hand luggage allowance of a small wheeled suitcase and a backpack. The thing you pay £50 to bring on Ryanair. I didn’t need to book a seat either, as you can get one allocated for free, but for ease I decided to pay for a window.

Icelandair Economy was more than spacious for someone of 6′ plus!

So all in I think it was around £700 to fly. I didn’t get fed, you have to buy food, but that’s fairly reasonably priced. But there’s something I haven’t told you! In a bid to boost tourism, Icelandair offers up to 7 nights stopover in Iceland for no additional airfare. So whatever you pay for you flight, you can connect in up to a weeks time for nothing extra.

Francesco had already decided he was going to head over there on Friday night and give himself a few days to explore. It was a little trickier for me. Work commitments, a wedding and the Mrs being furious I was going away for a week without her meant I joined him on the Monday.

My layover was only 16 hours in Reykjavik and it was a bloody expensive 16 hours. Frustratingly for me, we were flying to Keflavik and not the central Reykjavik airport. There was an Icelandic Premier League game kicking off at 6pm that was right next to that airport, but Keflavik was around a 45 minute transfer away. Alas, I didn’t make it to the Icelandic match, but I did catch the second half in a bar while waiting for Francesco to return from an excursion.

It’s a shame I didn’t manage to make it, the game finished 7-1 and I wouldn’t have spent £45 on three pints… Never mind though, that wasn’t the game I was coming for. Francesco and I got a bit drunk and headed back to the hotel where blackout blinds were most welcome. It was around 2am when we got back there and the sun was still shining like it was 8pm in England. A truly bizarre experience!

Next morning we headed over to the airport for about 8am, our flight was at 10:30 and we didn’t want to take any chances. As it turns out, the process in Keflavik couldn’t have been smoother. We breezed through security, straight through passport control to be stamped out and headed straight for a coffee (pint).

Boarding was on time and quick and I must say I was hugely impressed with Icelandair. The plane was bright and spacious, we had huge TV screens for entertainment, the food and drink was well priced and the temperature was just right. I’m not sure what it is most airlines do, but pretty much every other plane I’ve been on has been too hot or too cold, but Icelandair got it just right.

After take off, I tucked into a cup of noodles, very tasty and 4 beers in between chatting with Francesco, reading a book, watching Twisters (don’t bother) and napping. It’s that weird thing flying to America where the travel time and time difference mean you essentially land the same time you leave. And we did just that. Arriving into Seattle roughly 30 minutes after take off. In reality, our day had moved on 7 hours, but in Seattle we were only 30 minutes further on in our day!

A great sunny approach into Seattle over the bay

To stave off jetlag we enjoyed a nice long queue at the US border (sort it out Trump) and then an even longer queue for the bus to the car rental service. Each queue was around 40 minutes and moved the day along nicely. At the car rental area, we were greeted with our first taste of good ol’ fashioned USA when we were presented with a monster of a pick up truck!

It wasn’t exactly what we were used to, but you know what they say – when in Rome…

Getting into the spirit with this monster…

After checking in at our Motel on the outskirts of Seattle, we drove into town to check out the Inter team hotel, see what was going down. It turned out to be great timing, we arrived there about 6pm just in time for some kind of player curfew as we met Davide Frattesi. He was good enough to pose for pictures with us and some other fans before heading into the hotel. Sebastiano Esposito also stopped for a photo but didn’t seem best pleased to be doing so!

After dinner, we walked back past the hotel towards the car with some more perfect timing and stumbled across bona fide Inter and Argentina legend Javier Zanetti. He was a gentleman who stopped for photos and long chats with all the Inter fans – much to the annoyance of his wife who was waiting to go back into the hotel.

An Inter legend with Javier Zanetti…

Wednesday was match day and the day began with another stop at the hotel – Francesco’s obsession – and we once again arrived just as the players returned from training. This time there was no mood for photos, Thuram, Bisseck and Frattesi all strolled straight into the hotel, while I’ve never seen Zielinski move so quick as when some kids wanted an autograph. Maybe Inter should employ some to follow him around the San Siro pitch?

The game kicked off at 6pm local time and we decided around midday that it was time for a beer and headed to the oldest pub in Seattle called Central Bar. On the way there, we once again tripped over an Inter legend when we saw Maicon out for a stroll.

Central Bar is your typical American pub, it looks a little like what an American thinks a British pub should look like. But the bar staff and the locals were welcoming and keen to learn about “soccer” from us and some River fans.

This leads me in nicely to dropping a little praise for River fans. They’re mental. They outnumbered Inter fans there by 20 to 1 and they were all over the city and constantly decked out in their River shirts. They also have this weird thing where when one group sees another group, they immediately start singing and jumping up and down. They had clearly come to party and were in bouyant mood on match day.

The teams about to (slowly) enter the pitch…

After a short pub crawl towards the stadium (Lumen Field is so central in Seattle it’s crazy), we arrived at a designated meeting point for the Inter fans. Some of the clubs from America had organised a get together at The Gantry pub just outside of the stadium.

Flags were prominent with Inter Club DC, Miami and Ohio present with Francesco and I repping London. It was great to see the fans come together like this and it was definitely a different experience to the San Siro being among American fans. Some of them are children of Italian immigrants, some of them are Italians who live and work in the States and others just liked Inter because they were in Milan on their honeymoon when Inter played.

We shared some beers (maybe too many) and sang songs, we bantered with River fans and appeared on various Argentinian TV stations who wanted to speak to us. It was a great way to pass a couple of hours pre match.

Around an hour before kick off, Francesco and I decided to head into the stadium. Now, let me tell you, Americans may not have the right kind of football, but their stadiums for this sport are nothing short of amazing. Lumen Field is a spectacular stadium, with the Inter fans housed in a large open air section behind one goal. Behind the stand was a plaza like area with food and drink stalls and general mingling.

Our seats were amazing, right down behind the goal and we got a great view of the spectacular River fans behind the other goal enjoying their day. The noise that came from them was incredible, I can only imagine the scenes if they’d scored.

As it stands, they didn’t. Inter actually played well, probably for the only time in the tournament. They had a nervy opening few minutes but quickly settled and were largely the better side. A few scuffed chances and the score could’ve been a lot better than 0-0 at half time.

Pio Esposito – the younger brother – was an absolute handful throughout and probably played his way into Chivu’s thinking for next season. His goal was therefore thoroughly well deserved. Good play by the also impressive Petar Susic played him in and he turned well before firing low into the net. The celebrations of his team mates tell you this was a popular goal.

The second followed from Bastoni who rode a couple of attempted assualts from the Argentinians before smashing low under the keeper and into the net. What followed was all a bit unsavoury if not desperately funny as Dumfries and Acuna clashed and followed it on after the full time whistle.

Heading back into Seattle post match

Inter had won, they’d played well and deserved it, I’m not sure if we’ll say that a lot based on the fall out that followed. More importantly though, it was literally a 5 minute walk from the ground the a dive bar where we enjoyed a few beers in the evening before heading back to the Motel.

The next couple of days were quite chilled. We drove North near to Canada to the Northern Cascades National Park which was breathtakingly beautiful, exploring small town America on the way. We did all the tourist bits in Seattle too, the Space Needle and the boat tour round the harbour and I’ve got to say I really enjoyed the city.

Looking towards Canada in the Northern Cascades National Park

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s not really enough going on in Seattle to warrant a flight around the World just to see it, but it’s clean and spacious, it isn’t as busy and bustling as some of the other US cities. It doesn’t really represent what we all hear about “Trump’s America” either, it all seemed a bit… woke, I guess. Everyone was friendly, there was Pride flags hanging everywhere as it was Pride month, the food was all Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai – people from all cultures were mixing.

Seattle from the boat tour around the bay

Well worth adding to any trip you’ve got planned in the States.

As for the Club World Cup? Well, I had kept an open mind. I’m glad I did. Even though I only did one game I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle. Where else can we see Europe’s finest take on South America’s finest in something meaningful? I do a lot of international tournaments following England and the group stages are always the best part. Everyone from around the World is still there, everyone’s happy because the proper serious stuff hasn’t kicked off yet.

Seattle certainly had these vibes. After the games River fans and Inter fans were swapping shirts, swapping scarves, swapping flags, sharing a drink together and laughing together. There’s no doubt that FIFA’s new flagship tournament has some work to do – but I enjoyed myself in this first iteration.

Returning back to the UK from Seattle

4th Jul 2025
Calcio Weekender: Day 3, Bologna

Here it is then, finally, the long awaited part three to the Calcio weekender review! After two days in Bologna, it was time to actually spend a day there. With no travelling to be done for this match, there’s a bit of tourism writing here!

Bologna had never really ever occurred to me as a tourist destination. Sure you go to Milan, Rome, Sicily, Turin – but Bologna? Short of being the home of bolognese, I didn’t really know anything about it.

Well hold on to your hats folks, because it turns out it’s bloody beautiful. Not as hustly and bustly as some of the bigger cities I mentioned earlier, Bologna is chilled. A perfect place to spend a day sat outside cafes with a coffee watching the world go by.

Not that there’s nothing to do there. Isabelle and I left the apartment with a clear plan of our day after a quick Google. We had plans, we’d researched what we were going to do, so what could go wrong?

Well. It was Monday by now. Despite the fact I was off work, booked annual leave and wasn’t supposed to be contactable, I work in sales so I’m never really off the clock other than weekends or Christmas. And sure enough, I was awoken by the sound of my work mobile going off. A crisis for one of my customers that needed sorting.

Cue an entire morning of back and forth phone calls with the customer and my office, with Isabelle’s face increasingly more fuming as the minutes passed! Don’t get me wrong, being sat in my office dealing with the crisis wouldn’t have been anywhere near as nice as sitting in a cafe Piazza Maggiore dealing with it.

Crisis resolved, I was marched back to the apartment by Isabelle to deposit the work phone and focus on her and Bologna. That’s where I noticed I still had Andrea’s sons fan card from Parma a few days before. Surely not, what a ballache!

A quick phone call, and I had an address to send it to. But no stationary to send it with and no idea how to send it. I figured it must be easier to post in Italy than when I get home so Isabelle and I set off for the nearest Post Office.

Now if you think UK/US post offices are a nightmare, at least you speak the language. PostItalia in Bologna was at least air conditioned but that’s where the positives end. When my number was called I approached the desk and opened with my best, “Ciao, Inglese??”. To be met with a firm shake of the head. Well how the fuck are we going to do this?

Turns out there’s no phone signal or free WiFi in this particular branch so speaking into Google translate is out. No amount of gesturing to the fan card, then to the address on my screen was working. Shouting “SEND” or “POST” while doing it wasn’t working either.

Finally, the bloke in the next booth was done with his client and apparently spoke some English and came to help. It cost me roughly €5 all in for the envelope and postage and I swiftly sent the tracking number to Andrea and wished him all the best in receiving because who knows if it’s making it there!

Well, it’s time to enjoy our day in Bologna, surely. We head straight for Le Due Torre, a large tower sticking out of the ground made of the local red brick. Nowadays it sticks out like a sore thumb but apparently in Bologna’s heyday there were loads of these towers all over town.

Le Due Torre

As we arrive, there’s a notice on the door, it’s closed for renovations while we’re out of season. Of course it is. Now what? Back to Google. The Clock Tower is open, over in Piazza Maggiore. Looks like that’s the plan.

We head over and finally greeted with a bit of good luck. It’s open and tickets aren’t ridiculously priced. It’s a shame there’s no lift to the top, but Italy is a country with many old buildings so I didn’t really expect one. I’m not a man exactly built for lots of stairs but the Clock Tower breaks it up nicely with art exhibitions on each floor so it’s not just constant climbing. The views from the top are great, over Piazza Maggiore, the entire city and over to the hills outside of town.

Your guides in this journey

There’s just sight of the evening entertainment too, right over in the distance you can catch a glimpse of the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. Home of Bologna FC since 1927. Tonight Isabelle and I are finishing our Calcio epic at Bologna v Napoli, an exciting prospect in a Serie A season where Napoli are chasing down Inter (they eventually succeeded, spoiler alert) and Bologna are pushing hard for a return to the Champions League (they fell away late and didn’t make it).

First, we need some lunch and it was time to embrace a tradition for Isabelle and I. Some people also partake, some people think we’re mad to do it in Italy. But we always, wherever we visit across the World, always, have a McDonald’s one day for lunch. For those who don’t know, the menus in McDonald’s are wildly different all over the World so we always insist on seeing what each country offers that the UK doesn’t.

Sorry…

On this occasion, Italy didn’t really offer anything more exciting that being able to have a beer with my meal, my favourite thing about European McDonald’s. I went for a spicy chicken burger of some description while Isabelle went for her favourite food of all time, wings – something else unavailable in the UK.

Our afternoon was spent exploring the rest of the town fairly aimlessly, basically walking around flitting from bar to bar, it’s matchday and I’m English so obviously beer is required. It’s also always required when there’s a city with the ambience and weather of Bologna.

When I tell you this city is beautiful, there’s no lie, it is gorgeous. The architecture on nearly every building is unique and ornate. I’ve no doubt that if I headed out of the centre to the outskirts I’d see the normal high rise flats built in the 1970s, but I’ve rarely seen a city centre like this.

We stumbled across the Finestrella. A small canal running along a street in Bologna, and rather cheekily named “Little Venice” locally. It’s literally one canal so I’m not sure it can rival Venice, or even Milan’s Navigli area! There’s a small window in a wall that opens out onto the street, but there was an awful long queue of travel influencers queuing up to take videos of the window opening to a trending audio. If you head across the road there’s an equally good view which is below.

Finestrella

As we edged closer to match time, I decided we should get some dinner. Kick off was at 9pm so around 5pm I thought we should eat and begin our journey to the ground. The stadium is around a 30/40 minute walk and I had designs on pub crawling down there!

We ate at Sfoglia Rina on a few recommendations. There’s no reservations so expect to queue, but we weren’t waiting longer than ten minutes for a table. Sfoglia Rina all feature fresh pasta made on site and is a popular place with locals and tourists alike. There’s one large table in the middle where different groups can all sit together. Not really my thing, so we plumped for a small table for two on the outside.

Isabelle was keen to have a proper Bologna bolognese and went for the Taglietelle Bolognese Ragout, which was delicious and I had the Gramigna with Sausage Ragout. It was absolutely fantastic. A great meal to end our time in Italy.

Tasted better than it looked!

After the meal, we popped into the Celtic Druid Irish Pub around the corner, we’d been in a couple of times when returning from the other cities and I knew there was a lot of Bologna FC themed decoration and figured there’d be some fans in pre-match.

I wasn’t wrong and the atmosphere was lively. I love the way Italians talk so expressively and with their hands. Even though I don’t know what they’re saying, I can pick out footballer and team names, there’s so much discussion on the previous weekends Calcio going on here.

We have a couple of pints here and begin the long trek to the ground, stopping at a few pubs along the way. The amount of people on the street increases the closer we get and there’s a few livelier fan bars here. In one I’m immediately accused of being “Napolista” because I’m different to them. I refer him to the fact I’m English and show Isabelle’s scarf bought earlier at the club shop in the City Centre and I’m immediately bought a sambuca and welcomed. I’m not sure how many more sambucas I can take.

When we head to the ground it’s about half an hour before kick off, and this is a mistake. The beautiful old facade to the stadium is also the only entry point to that stand, which is where our tickets were. There’s only two gates and two long queues stretch in either direction and in a very Italian way there’s absolutely no organisation. The queue is carnage, absolute chaos. It’s anarchy. The Brit in me breaks out in a cold sweat.

The other uniquely Italian thing about the queue is across the road from it, it is easily the biggest moped parking area I’ve ever seen. It raises a smile in me, this is a unique country and I love it.

Italy…

We eventually get into the ground about 5 minutes before kick off and head to our seats and we’re confronted with another Italianism of football matches. Just because your ticket has a seat number on it, unless you get in early don’t expect to be able to sit there.

It’s every man for himself and we arrive to our seats to see them filled with Napoli fans. Again, in Italy it’s very common for away fans to sit in any area of a stadium and not just the allocated away section. You won’t find them in the ultras section obviously, but they’re generally accepted. If you’re watching your team as an away team in the home end, just don’t rub it in if you’re winning. You’re allowed to cheer the goals, but not excessively, then sit down and shut the fuck up is basically the rules.

Chaos reigns in the queue…

Even last year at the Milan derby I was sat with both Inter and Milan fans who were chatting about the game together.

Anyway, the section we’re in is crazy, the game is sold out so rather than go in the hunt for two seats together, we plonk ourselves down on the stairs with a few others and watch the first half. Napoli take the lead after 18 minutes through Anguissa. It’s a scrappy goal that started with some nice football and Anguissa going through 1v1. The goalkeepers attempt to close him down results in a messy “rounding” of the keeper by Anguissa who taps in as he’s falling over.

No one in a Napoli shirt cares how good or scrappy the goal is though, and they’re up. Flares are lit and the noise cranks up a level in the ground. Bologna aren’t in the game and they’re in danger of being overrun here. Napoli can smell blood after Inter’s draw on Saturday.

Napoli fans all over the ground celebrate taking the lead…

Half time comes and Isabelle and I have noticed a smattering of empty seats right down at the front, so we head there (via the bar). Down in position right in the front row, we strike up conversation with a half drunk guy next to us. He’s Scottish and travelling Italy watching football, and came to this game to see the obvious Scott McTominay, but also last season’s best midfielder winner Lewis Ferguson who turns out for Bologna.

As the second half gets underway Bologna have decided to play. They’re much more positive, much more decisive and much quicker. The Napoli section quietens down and the Bologna ultras step it up. They’re rewarded in the 64th minute when Dan Ndoye scores a quite audacious goal. Meeting a cross from the left he flicks it through his own legs with his heel, the ball rising to meet the underside of the bar and settle in the back of the net.

Dan Ndoye celebrates his equaliser…

They deserve the equaliser and there’s absolute pandemonium. Suddenly Conte’s team look happy with their point and there’s a ten minute spell where they look like they won’t get it. Eventually, the game settles back down and rather peters out in the final few minutes. Napoli have done a good job of killing the momentum Bologna were enjoying.

All told, the point is probably deserved. It’s not terrible for Napoli who saw Inter also drop points. And it kind of helps Inter out too. As we leave the ground with our new Scottish friend in tow, there’s a row of buses waiting and we hop straight on one heading for the City Centre.

We depart the bus outside the Celtic Druid pub and head in for a nightcap. The trip to Italy is coming to an end and tomorrow I’ll be hungover in an airport heading for home. It’s been three fantastic days and we haven’t seen one team win a game, witnessing three draws. I guess that’s almost appropriate for a country whose entire football identity is built on strong defence.

Writing these reviews of the long weekend have done nothing to quench my thirst to get back out to Italy and watch some more Calcio. I was over there 4 times last season and it wasn’t enough. As I mentioned back in part one, in my opinion Italy does food, beer, football (and women) better than anyone in the world and I think it comes from passion. Watch an Italian talk to another person and there’s passion oozing out of them, they apply the same to cooking, their football, to everything. Last week the fixtures for 2025/26 were released and I’m already planning trips.

13th Jun 2025
Calcio Weekender: Day two – Florence

Overwhelming success of the Calcio Weekender day one post was so warmly appreciated, thanks so much for recommending it to everyone you know! I promised that it was three matches in three days and as promised, here’s day two.

Sunday morning was just as beautiful as day one and it’s fair to say that after a long day in Parma we didn’t exactly spring out of bed. Again, anyone else who’s raising a 15 year old girl will know that it isn’t as simple as just getting up and going again!

But we rose at the sound of an alarm, there was more travelling to be done and no time to lay in bed waiting. Now, in the previous post I was extolling the virtues of the Italian rail system but today I curse it. Nothing to do with the network, but the pricing of it this time.

So, it may be cheap if you’re travelling in the same region, but leaving Emilia Romagna and heading to Tuscany shoots the price up a fair bit! Over €100 for the two of us. Surely there’s a cheaper option? You better believe it.

For a fraction of that price and frankly the same amount of time, Isabelle and I would be travelling to Florence for the day with the big green Flixbus. Shockingly comfortable is how I would describe the experience. Isabelle and I would be on the 8:45am bus to Florence from Bologna bus station, which arrived at a reasonable 10:05am.

Firstly, the drive through the Tuscan hills was bloody spectacular, some beautiful scenery. Secondly, there was plenty of comfortable leg room even for me at 6ft4in. The temperature was comfortable and the ride smooth. And all this for a mere £23 return. For us both. Incredible value I thought.

The Flixbus takes you to Villa Costanza, a small bus station on the edge of town, serviced by a regular tram that comes straight to the main station. Easy.

When we arrived, there was just enough time to grab a quick snack at the shop before loading up onto the tram and heading into Florence. The point of this day trip was to suss out what Florence was like. It’s been on the list for some time, everything I’ve ever read about sculptures, art, renaissance etc all seems to point you in the direction of Florence.

So I wanted to check it out first, this seemed like a good idea. I have to say, it’s beautiful. Isabelle and I headed straight for the Duomo and it lived right up to the expectations I had of it. History pours out of every building. We didn’t head into the museums or Duomo, it was a day trip so we just came here to check out the scenery more than anything.

Plus, this is a football blog, this is a football trip. There was a match to get to in the afternoon. Sunday is football day in Italy and the gods of Futbology had informed me there was a derby going on locally in Serie D.

You guessed it, we were heading to Prato to see the city derby between Zenith Prato and AC Prato. Now, no, I’d never heard of the city or the teams, but football is football. I’ll go watch anything.

Prato is around 20 minutes by train from Firenze and the trip out there cost us less than €10 for us both. The Stadio Lungobisenzio is less than ten minutes walk from the station and in the sun it’s a glorious walk. I’d tried through Twitter/X to get some information on tickets and there wasn’t really any at all. The two clubs share a stadium in the city, much like in Milan, although the level is a little different.

The stadium is old, but has nods to a former golden age, with a large structure for one stand which looks quite grand from a distance, until you get close and see the paint peeling off the walls and the faded Olympics logo.

There’s a Gillingham style temporary stand behind one goal and flats behind the other. The opposite side of the main stand has a lovely view over a mountain. Now, I’ve watched Serie C before and wasn’t entirely bowled over by the level, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from D.

Well, that question was answered when we arrived at the ground around 45 minutes before kick off and everything was closed up. People were sat on the steps waiting for the one entrance to open. The little ticket booth was open, however, so I offered up my €10 and was presented with one adult ticket and a free kid ticket.

When the gates finally opened around 30 minutes before kick off, we made our way in to the unreserved main stand and took a seat. Things started to get busy about 10-15 minutes before kick off but there was something nagging at me. Where were the away fans? AC Prato fans were all hanging around a bar by the station, but shouldn’t they be here now?

Well, as it turns out, this derby was about to lose a big sting in the tail. The AC fans had decided to boycott the game and subsequent other games due to a dispute with the clubs ownership. Something I see happening a lot here in Italy.

My concerns about the level of the Serie D football was confirmed when two of the AC Prato players were warming up in full kit as they didn’t seem to have training tops. The warm up seemed to consist of groups of players stood in a circle doing keep ups. I was more than a little concerned…

Concerns that were indeed well founded. Twenty minutes into the game and still nothing had happened. Wayward passes, shots looping way off target and defensive mix ups, yet still nothing. Now, I’m no snob, I just love football, but with the missing away fans this game was lacking any real spark.

But hold on, what’s that noise? I can hear drums and chanting off in the distance. And is that a whiff of smokebomb I just got? It was, there’s some white smoke off behind that away end. I’m sure I just saw a flag wave too.

The AC Prato fans were in attendance, without being in attendance. They came down to support their team, from a distance and without going in and funding the owners they protest against.

They don’t hang around, however, and soon the game drifts back to silence and very little action. There’s a few bright sparks out there, one of the Zenith lads in centre midfield is tricky. He’s got pace and he can take players on, confident. Perhaps over confident though, he keeps taking it a step too far.

We make it all the way to the 89th minute before there’s any action to speak of in this game. After a typically rough scramble in the penalty area, AC are awarded a penalty. Players are down all over the pitch, walking wounded. Well, not walking, they’re all prone. This delay could get in the head of the taker. Surely not though? He’s still got to put it away, penalties are easy.

Well, nope. As it turns out, this game was about to take another lurch to the ridiculous. The penalty is ballooned over the bar, high. In fact, two months on it could still be rising. At least the bar was open though. Cheap beers, in the sun, watching football, what could be better? That’s what these trips are all about!

We head back to Firenze straight after full time, we have a bus to catch after all. One piece of advice for anyone travelling by Flixbus like us, get an early tram. The exodus from the main station at the end of the day is almost ridiculous. Americans are everywhere and the queues to get on a tram to the outskirts of town is excessive.

Once we make it to Villa Costanza, we board the coach and take the opportunity to relax. Another hectic day of travelling around, but less intense than the previous day, less panicking and less rushing around. And less alcohol.

I’ll go back to Florence for a proper trip at some point, I’d love to see La Viola play. The food and drink as usual in Italy was spot on, although we weren’t able to get into the viral sandwich shop All’Antico Vinaio, next time I guess…

Part Three will come later in the week…

10th Jun 2025