Football, Romanità, and the Search for Stasis - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 157

uncovered a deep connection among hardcore Roman football fans between an
understanding of football in militaristic terms and a particular model of Rome
gathered from the long Roman tradition of military aggression, glory, and great-
ness (Dyal 2010).
in Virgil's Aeneid, we are given reason to believe in the providence of Roman
greatness. later, the church made use of what it saw as the universal mission of
Roman greatness, and the Risorgimento adopted what has been called the “myth
of Roman continuity” (Gentile 1996, 103) in order to justify the establishment of
an italian state. similarly, fascism utilized Rome as the central reference point
for statecraft, virtue, “discipline, and the secret of greatness” (Gentile 1996, 76). in
contemporary Rome, although a recent right-wing political movement popolo di
Roma (people of Rome) has taken up the belief in the greatness of Rome and the
triumph of those who share that belief, it is an idea more commonly expressed by
fans of the city's football teams than by politicians.
Romanità: a Contemporary myth
as Roma and ss lazio share Rome's olympic stadium. The stadium, redesigned
for the 1960 olympics and upgraded for the 1990 world Cup, was born as part
of the foro mussolini (now foro italico—italic forum), a fascist sports complex
located under monte mario, northwest of Rome's center. introduced by mus-
solini's obelisk, the stone and marble forum is a complex of four stadiums and
four buildings linked by a mosaic boulevard, tiled with images of the fascist
revolution and the 1922 march on Rome. The stadio dei marmi (stadium of the
marbles), one of the four stadiums, is ringed by sixty statues of various sporting
disciplines (baxa 2010, 73-75). to reach the olympic stadium, football fans must
traverse this mythical fascist landscape (martin 2011, 152-153). That professional
football takes place in this environment makes perfect sense given the fascist
regime's role in creating serie a and in professionalizing italian sport (martin
2004, 9-27).
however, far from being merely fascist, it is a space that is full of romanità.
as the marble athletes and the neoclassical but modernist architecture of the
complex attests, this is a structure designed to inculcate against bourgeois pas-
sivity with the virtues of classical athleticism. it is designed to aggrandize and
ennoble the mythical Roman spirit in modern men and women (baxa 2010, 117).
for Roman football fans, some of the most rabid in europe, the environs help
motivate a commitment to participating in, rather than merely watching, their
team's games. for the ultras, the most committed and impassioned fans, the fo-
rum is proof of the superiority of Roman cultural forms. This sensation is part
of romanità.
Romanità is defined by piergiorgio Zunino as a premodern and mythical (as
opposed to historical) form of collective mentality best expressed in nostalgia for