I've never seen a live soccer game at the professional level, so why not make the first here in Italy and a Serie A (the highest and most prestigious league) to boot.There are two Serie A teams in the Rome area. There is Roma, with it's famous striker Totti and Lazio and it's most famous player, Zarate. I think there are political overtones in one's choice of which team to choose (Rome being the team of the liberal city elite and Lazio being the team to support for the suburban, more conservative set, but I'll have to confirm that). I kind of wanted to go see the game and see a car get burned or a huge set of fights of break out, you know, general hooliganism, but it was a well behaved crowd. I guess those are a thing of the past, or simply limited to Great Britain. The game itself was enthralling. Palermo scored at minute 74, and then Lazio tied it at minute 83. I found myself entertained by both the game itself and the general atmosphere.
The only bummer of the day was finding out I got RIPPED off by using a ticket broker. Face value = 15 Euro. I paid A LOT MORE.
Stadio Olympico was built in a northern neighborhood of Rome for the 1960 Summer Olympics. It has been renovated a couple times and is currently the home of both S.S. Lazio and A.C Roma. Rome is also putting in a bid to host the Summer Games again in 2020.
The mosaics from the original 1960 games are still intact.
Not sure why there is an obelisk to Mussolini at the entrance to the Stadio Olympico.
Light Blue and White are now my Calcio colors.
To enter the game, you must show your ticket and then show proof of citizenship. For most Italian's it's their National ID card, for me, my passport.
I got the cheapest ticket, which turned out to be the equivalent of the bleacher section at a baseball game. At Stadio Olympico, it's sections 47 and 49 or better known as the North Curve.
The Curva Nord is the part of the stadium that is filled to the brim with crazed fans. It is definitely the place to be.
The pitch
In Italy, ballpark food is a pork sandwich on foccacia and a seltzer water.
As I learned from reading the sports pages, Lazio plays a 4-2-4 whereas Palermo plays a 4-3-3.
If I hadn't run out of battery charge, I would have included a video/audio clip of the constant singing. I hope someday to not only understand the words but sing along.
For various safety reasons, the stands are divided up into sections that cannot be crossed. In addition, the entrances and exits are also divided by barriers as well.
The visitors from Palermo, isolated in the far corner away from Curva Nord and surrounded by security guards.
