Raging Bull

---

If you mention that you are visiting Turin, the inevitable football question comes back to Juventus. The looks of confounded disbelief are much in evidence when it is revealed that the objective of the mission is their cross city rivals, the Granata otherwise known as Torino FC. Torino are these days the forgotten team, consigned to perceptions of mediocrity by the sweeping success of their neighbours. It was not always so. As you might have read in my first blog of the trip, the all conquering Torino team of the late 1940s were all set up for a period of dominance similar to that currently being enjoyed by the Notts County impersonators. Disaster struck in the form of the 1949 Superga disaster which effectively wiped out the entire Grande Torino team and the Serie A would not return until 1976. It would prove a flash in the pan and was followed by another period when the extension to the silverware cabinet wasn't at the forefront of everybody's mind. The current season was shaping up in similar mode. After the European campaign came to an abrupt halt when a bunch of Wolves rocked into town, the inconsistent form left Torino in mid-table.

We were here to see the match with title contenders, Inter Milan. The Torino faithful were undeterred by recent form and had been busy snapping up tickets for the game since they went on sale. I am not usually a big fan of purchasing tickets online. For starters, you don't get a proper ticket and just end with a bar coded bit of paper. In this case, it was needs must. We couldn't take the risk of arriving and there being only the super expensive tickets left. Full of confidence from having negotiated the Brann Bergen ticketing site, I dived in and got 2 x €25 tickets on the South Curve at the opposite end to the Torino ultras. The PDFs duly arrived in my inbox and the pressure was off. I remained unsure on the choice, but we were far enough from the Inter section and under a roof. We were in - well assuming I had keyed our ID details correctly! Italian football has more of an obsession with identifying who is attending matches than the rest of Europe put together.

The day of the game had given us more to worry about with this rain that never ceased. I had long since given up on the game of the century, I was just hoping it would be played. Waterlogged in Italy - what were the chances of that? We calmed our nerves in the usual watering hole, after we had dried out a bit back at the hotel. In some ways, it had been a pointless exercise as we would be wet again before getting in the ground. The streets were still fairly quiet, except for people looking in vain for a parking place. A few came and went in our bar - a quick drink and some food - but nothing out of the ordinary for a Saturday night. We headed out into the night and met our first obstacle. The street we needed to access our entrance was blocked off by Turin's finest. Inter fans were allowed to access, which would prove a big farce as we would later see inside. We trudged off the long way round getting soaked. The matchday practice is to deploy safety fences outside the main turnstiles, so only those who have shown ticket, ID and been searched can get close. The snag in the plan is that a significant proportion of the first barriers were reserved for Granata members. The mere mortals snaked out in the road and got further drenched. I held out my ticket and the steward paid close attention to my ID - shining a torch to further study it closer. "Tifosi Inglesi", I splurted out. "You are welcome", came the reply in perfect English. The next steward insisted in checking my camera wasn't a method of bringing contraband I side. "It is the regulation", he apologised. The drowned rats entered.

The tickets in the 2nd tier turned out to be a reasonable choice. The roof protection effectively did not cover the lower tier, so the majority of the sections below remained unoccupied for the full 90 minutes. The big surprise was the number of Inter fans in the Torino sections. In a very coordinated ticket buying move, they had the whole section of the Main Stand next to us, the whole section of the other side stand next to their Ultras and probably a group a 1000 or so on the far side of our Curva. There were smaller groups all over the place. The pitch was borderline. Standing water near one corner flag was only brushed off the turf a few seconds before the start. The players were clearly unsure how this would play and Torino nearly scored an own goal in the first minute with an over hit back pass. The rain continued to fall. But the pitch held up. The game itself wasn't a classic. Torino huffed and puffed, but didn't look threatening. Inter were more clinical and slotted home their chances. Lukaku ... no longer needed at Old Trafford ... led the line and capped off the victory with a neat finish in the end half. A few minor outbreaks of trouble followed each goal, as Torino took exception to the Inter fans in their midst. We made a swift getaway at the end, more in the interests of staying dry than for any other reason.

It won't surprise you to know, it was still raining heavily in the morning. We had a tentative plan to go to watch Sampdoria in Genoa, but an Italian rail website suggested that train cancellations were the norm not the exception due to flooding affecting the region. Indeed, part of the A6 Autostrada motorway was also cut - a dual carriageway bridge had disappeared into a ravine with the raging torrent of water beneath it. We abandoned the plan, fearing that we might get there but not back. We headed out to the Centro Storico Fiat - the Story of Fiat Museum. The Museum on Corso Dante is housed in another old factory and is basically the home of the Fiat archives. It is only open on Sundays and manned by volunteers. Entrance is free. There was a healthy number of visitors, all with the same idea of staying dry. A small proportion of the private Fiat collection is on display, as well as the other side of the Fiat business that we did not really appreciate existed. Who knew that Fiat had made some of the most powerful early aero engines, marine engines for ships and submarines and World War 2 fighter planes? Of course, it was logical to assume the company would have been part of Mussolini's war effort. A series of advertising posters recorded the marketing efforts of the company. In amongst those trying to make the Fiat 500 aspirational to a new generation of 1960s car buyers, a menacing war effort tried to portray the military strength of the output of the later 1930s and early 1940s.

The city centre was surprisingly busy, as we strode up Via Roma. We passed on the 600€ Louis Vuitton trainers. They wouldn't look box fresh, after 10 minutes in the wet conditions. We had another match to go to, but the question was how to reach it. The rain eased a bit - it was a false dawn by the way - so we walked north from the Piazza Reale. The river was swelled to the capacity, as we crossed and walked parallel to the Monumental Cemetery. The centre of Turin is characterised by the covered portico walkways and shopping area. As in life, so in death. The better off are laid to rest in vaults under covered canopies. They stretched as far as the eye could see. The cemetery was opened in 1829 and now covers 600,000 metres. We approached our local alternative to a trip to Genoa - USD Vanchiglia. Blue lights and a group of Police were visible in the distance. The game was the "big" match against the former big fish from SD Asti in the Piedmont Eccelencia - effectively the regional 5th Division. Vanchiglia have a 3G pitch, so despite the rain it was looking promising. Alas, the Police turned out to guarding a huge sink hole in the road. The gates of the ground were firmly closed. Game off. Drat. This was not going according to plan. The rain got heavier. We walked away looking for a bar, but this area of Turin was not exactly open for business on a Sunday afternoon. We caught a tram back towards the city centre. The Man in the Middle spotted a suitable place for a refreshment and we alighted. We settled into the Bar Pizzeria Napoleon, which transpired to be owned by Romanians and staffed by a girl from Beruit. It was an enjoyable afternoon, disturbed only by the failed attempt by two Romany women to pull some scam involving a large € note and a small transaction. An attempt to get behind the counter once the till was open was repelled by the chef. We would see them try the same stunt elsewhere the following day.

We were closer to the city centre than we realised and stumbled across a nighttime view of the Mole Annotellia. The building, which is now a Museum of Cinema, towers above all else in the city centre and is the postcard view. It was illuminated and stood out even more in the driving rain. After drying out at the hotel for half an hour, we stepped out to our closest pizzeria. It seemed unique, in that it was run by Italians. The price was premium, but the pizza was good. It also had a beneficial location - a few places from our base.

Appendix 1

Italy Serie A

Torino FC 0 Inter Milan 3

Date: Saturday 23 November 2019 @ 2045 Hours

Venue: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Via Filadelfia, 10134 Turin. Piedmont. Italy

Attendance: 26,059

Scorers: 0-1 Martinez (Inter) 12 Mins, 0-2 De Vrij (Inter) 32 Mins, 0-3 Lukaku (Inter) 55 Mins

Torino: Sirigu, Izzo, Ansaldi, Se Silvestri, N"Koulou, Bremer (Ola Aina 57 Mins) , Lukic, Badelli (Berenguer 71 Mins), Meite, Belotti (Zaza 11 Mins), Verdi

Inter Milan: Handanovic, Godin, De Vrij, D'Ambrosio (Dimarco 83 Min), Biraghi, Skriniar, Vecino, Barella ( Vallero 45 Mins), Brozovic, Lukaku, Martinez (Candreva 69 Mins)




Appendix 2

Italy Piedmont Eccelencia Division

USD Vanchiglia P SD Asti P

Date: Sunday 24 November 2019 @ 1430 Hours

Venue: Gaspare Taglia Stadium, Via E Raggazoni, 10153 Turin. Piedmont. Italy

Match Postponed - Waterlogged

---

Comments

[Mercante]

I'm glad you didn't talk about Juventus! Torino FC is the real team from Turin and its people: Juve fans come from all over Italy but we mostly hate that team.... Great blog!

[Rainyb]

Is that a pizza? Looks yummy......

[Rainyb]

I love buskers ;o)

[Rainyb]

Thanks for sharing!