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riousness; respect and veneration for the gods; deliberate actions; realism as love
for the essential, not the material; the ideal of clarity; inner equilibrium and sus-
picion of confused mysticism; love of boundaries; and unity in pursuit of higher
goals (evola 2002, 259).
Romanità
and the Roman football Clubs: as Roma versus ss lazio
ss lazio was founded in 1900 in the prati neighborhood of Rome. prati, along
with other aristocratic neighborhoods like parioli and flaminio, was central to
the club's foundation, not only socially but also politically. The club in fact com-
petes in a variety of sports. Thus, it chose the blue and white colors of Greece as
its own, seeking a link to the olympic tradition of excellence in multiple sport-
ing disciplines. according to massimiliano, owner of a pizzeria in monteverde
and local expert on his team, the founding members of ss lazio, among them
luigi bigiarelli, sought a “universal” color scheme and symbolic reference point
in choosing the Greek colors and eagle mascot. The cosmopolitan founders of ss
lazio did not consider Rome “universal enough.”
by 1927, however, ss lazio's eagle was seen less as Greek and universal than
Roman and imperial. The fascist campaign of
romanità
was busy rewriting italy,
italians, and Rome in neoclassical style. and, despite ss lazio being the favored
football club of mussolini, he proposed that the sporting societies of Rome be
conjoined and reborn as a club competing “in the name of Rome” (foot 2006,
112). perhaps because of the Duce's backing, ss lazio was able to resist the pro-
posed merger, while three other Roman clubs were not.
in any event, in 1927, as Roma was born and centered in the working-class
neighborhood of testaccio. because the club was formed at the behest of the fas-
cist regime, its boardroom was populated with leading fascists of the day, includ-
ing italo foschi. when, in 1942, it became the first team south of bologna to win
the italian championship, the assumption of many was that the state had played
a role in this rare success (foot 2006, 114). as Roma chose ancient yellow and
maroon-red, the colors of Rome, as its own. similarly, its mascot is the lupa,
Rome's symbol since antiquity.
it is these founding narratives that form the terms of debate among rival
fans in Rome. while both teams have had relatively modest success in an italian
football dominated by teams from the north, with as Roma having won three
championships to ss lazio's two, the fans are left to argue over symbolism and,
often, politics. for despite being founded by a mandate from the fascist regime,
as Roma was historically seen as the “people's” team while ss lazio was seen as
the team of the regime itself.
fans, symbols, and
Romanità
in July 2011, ss lazio president Claudio lotito shocked many in Rome by ques-
tioning as Roma's right to use the lupa as the club's symbol. in his words, “as
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