Thomas Fruits |
Naples (Italy) (EFE).- Naples is right now an unstoppable team, so much so that their victories have already remained small on the pitch. He does them now on the street. And it is that the partenopeo group has achieved something that seemed impossible: breaking with the historical superstition of a city that is already preparing a massive party to celebrate the third ‘Scudetto’ in its history.
Tattoos, murals with the current players lifting the third league title of their record, life-size cardboard figures and blue and white plastic intertwined on the balconies give a special color to this historic southern city. Naples is alive, football is breathed through its streets. Only football. Everything revolves around a historic season that, except for a surprise, will return them to the top of Italy.
An unusual return in a country so divided in which the teams from the north monopolize most of the titles and in which Napoli stands as the resistance, like that small French village in the comics, hoping to keep up with the stakes and fight the northerners for as long as possible.
And it does so without fear of its tradition, almost fighting against itself, kicking superstition, freeing itself from it in these last months of the championship in which the wide advantage seems to be enough.
The “Scudetto” tattooed
“Let’s say that the city, compared to the other years where we were always superstitious, has put superstition aside and things seem to be going well. The results are proving us right,” tattoo artist Salvattore Russo, who lives in the first person, with the ‘Scudetto’ already tattooed, comments to EFE in his studio, how the city is overcoming the ever-present ‘scaramanzia’ (superstition, in Italian ).
“I got my first (title tattoo) on January 30, after the Naples-Rome game. The thing has gone viral a bit and everyone has put superstition aside, I must have already done about fifteen and there are others reserved. There will be many more”, reveals Salvattore.
The Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarters) are the beating heart of this city where religion is soccer and God, of course, Diego Armando Maradona, who has been venerated for decades.
There, among sanctuaries dedicated to the Argentine star, hero and legend who led the ‘azzurri’ to glory in 1988 and 1990, the faces of ‘Kvaradona’, Osimhen and Spalletti, his “almost” heirs, now sneak in, because Maradona did not it is replaced, neither replaced, nor forgotten.
Dedicated to “God Maradona”
In the small and steep streets of this area, this season’s shirts hang from balconies, flags with the message ‘Campioni’ and with the current team leaders raising a trophy dedicating it to ‘Diego’. Between alleyways, in a small square, an aperitif bar has also wanted to join the party and leave superstition behind with some life-size cardboard figures of the template.
“All of us Neapolitans had the idea, we brought them together and created them,” Anna, the owner of the venue, explained to EFE, sitting in the square while dozens of onlookers captured the moment on their screens. “We are superstitious, but we also have the ‘law of traction,’” she points out.
The preparations are already overwhelming with more than three months to go before the competition ends and at least one month for victory to be mathematical.
The party, when the victory is achieved, is unknown even to themselves: “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what I expect, because Neapolitans normally throw huge parties. So I can’t even imagine what can happen,” Anna said.
Better than winning the Champions League
The Parthenopean fans live in a cloud with a team that is already among the eight best in Europe. But the ‘Scudetto’ means a lot to them: “’Champions’ or ‘Scudetto’? Great question, but I prefer the ‘Scudetto’ because it is a spectacle, a victory that would last a hundred years”, a fan in the central Plaza Dante told EFE, clad in his Naples shirt and riding a bicycle decorated for the occasion.
A fan who, despite the festive mode of the city and moving away from superstition, maintains respect for this traditional belief. “Sure there’s only one thing, but I’m enjoying the moment,” he said while making the gesture of the ‘horned hand’ to ward off bad luck.
“This year, if we make it, it will be like a New Year’s party. Family celebrations and fun always in peace. With Maradona we did it like that ”, he declared.
Naples has earned the right to feel great. For now, she daydreams away from a superstition that had her handcuffed, in an already festive atmosphere and cooperation between neighbors who do their bit to feel part of the victory, of history. So that the ‘Scudetto’ party is at the level of a team that, except for surprise, will carry out the feat 33 years after Diego Armando Maradona raised the second ‘Scudetto’ to heaven.
