June 23, 2025

Florentine Historical Football: origins, teams and how it is played

Florence prepares for final the Reds of Santa Maria Novella vs. the Greens of San Giovanni

Florentine Historical Football is represented by fifty minutes of strength, passion, sweat, fatigue and combat, played out in the gaudy liveries of yesteryear, soon to be transformed into fierce naked torsos struggling with tenacity and fury on a thick carpet of sand that cushions the blows of the falls but at the same time makes the movements heavy.

The colors and neighborhoods

Each year teams from the city's neighborhoods compete, each with their own colors:

Whites from Santo Spirito
Reds of Santa Maria Novella
Greens from San Giovanni
Blue of Santa Croce

The competition between these four historic neighborhoods is intense both on the field and in the stands. Although few native residents still live in the historic center districts today, the sense of belonging and pride are certainly hallmarks of Florentines.

When playing

The semifinals of Calcio Storico Fiorentino 2025 were held on June 14 and 15. The final is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, the day of Florence's patron saint, St. John, and will pit the Reds of Santa Maria Novella against the Greens of San Giovanni. In keeping with tradition, the matches will be played in Piazza Santa Croce on a sand court and will be preceded by spectacular historical parades that will depart from Piazza Santa Maria Novella at 3:45 p.m., passing through the city center.

The rules

On the rectangular field divided into two perfect squares, the two teams of 27 kickers on each side begin competing for the ball after the firing of culverins and in honor of the magnificent messenger who watches from the stands.

Shots of almost any kind are allowed, and the judge-referee aided by his six linesmen, directs the match not without effort. The kickers must overcome the opposing barrage and send the ball inside the net that occupies the entire width of the field. A mistake costs the other team a point.

Each point is a hunt, and every two half-hunts the players change fields. The winning team is given as a prize a white heifer that used to be slaughtered and is now symbolic, plus the "cencio," as the painting by a Florentine painter is called.

The story

The post is the "hunt," as they say, for the ball that ends up in the opponent's goal. Dante does not mention this, a sign that in his time the tournament was not played, since his work is also a formidable encyclopedia of the time. But it is known that as early as the second half of the fifteenth century, young Florentines played soccer in the squares and streets, decked out in their colorful liveries.

Slowly they went on to use the city's most important squares, from Piazza Santo Spirito, to Santa Maria Novella, to Santa Croce. And historic soccer began to be one of the entertainments used especially during the carnival period or on special occasions. It was from the beginning a tough game in which young noblemen competed to make a good impression in front of noblewomen. It was, however, in Santa Croce, where the tournament still takes place today, that the memorable game was played, the first of which there is a true official record and which then remained in history as the start of the tradition.