The historic Florentine football

There is a great anticipation for the most important historical event in the city of Florence: Florentine historical football. It is a three game tournament, two eliminations and one final, which takes place at the annual festivals of St. John, the patron saint of the city. The four historical districts of Florence, to which it is assigned a colour, challenge themselves: Whites of Santo Spirito, Reds of Santa Maria Novella, Light blue of Santa Croce, Greens of San Giovanni. Here are the dates of events in Florence:

• On Saturday, 1 June, 2024, first semi-final: Verdi of San Giovanni vs Azzurri of Santa Croce
• On Sunday, 2 June, 2024, second semi-final: Rossi of Santa Maria Novella vs Bianchi of Santo Spirito
• On Saturday, 15 June, the Final.

Waiting for future challenges, fans of this ancient tournament can enjoy the episode of the “Home Game” docuseries dedicated to historic Florentine football which is enjoying enormous success on Netflix.

Origins of the Florentine historical football

It seems that the game has ancient origins: a similar game is even quoted in Homeric poems. Instead, the Florentine tradition originated in the 14^th century when it was played everywhere and, during the Medici dynasty, were organized challenges similar to those of today. The recovery of the game in the 20^th century took place in 1930. The matches take place with the costumes of the 16^th century in memory and re-enactment of a particular moment in Florentine history. On February 17^th 1530, Piazza Santa Croce in Florence became the theatre of one of the most important challenges of the Florentine Republic to Emperor Carlo V, when the population besieged for many months by imperial troops, came to a football match, giving impression of not considering the army of the Empire worthy of attention.

Rules of the historic Florentine football matches

Matches last for fifty minutes. Each team consists of twenty-seven kickers and no replacement is foreseen. The aim of the game is to allow the two teams to carry (with any means) the ball to the bottom of the opponent’s field and deposit it into the net scoring thus the “hunt”. At each hunting mark the teams change in the field.

As prize for victory, there is the symbolic gesture of delivery to the winning team of a Chianina breed.
We wait for you at the Hotel Brunelleschi for this amazing event. For information and ticket purchases please contact our concierge: concierge@hotelbrunelleschi.it.

Photo: Fabrizio Landi