An Unforgettable Day—Part 2

This is part two of the Unforgettable Day—Euro Cup Championship Game.

As soon as we left the Vatican Kyle was eager to watch the championship game of the 2012 Euro Cup in the main square that we heard would be filled with Italian fans. Kyle read online that the game would start at 1:30 p.m., so we raced back to the hotel to change. (We bought blue Italia shirts from a street vendor to share in the excitement with the crowd.)

The hotel told us that the game would be shown in the Circo Massimo (the ancient circus grounds where chariots used to race). This was a long walk from our hotel but equally far from a Metro, so we took the streets on foot. I struggled to keep up with Kyle’s long legs as he looked at the map to lead us to a part of the city we hadn’t yet explored.

We walked so briskly that we arrived at the site in less than 30 minutes only to find it completely empty except for one lone fan. This man was shirtless in the middle of the empty space, waving an Italian flag and yelling, “VIVA ITALIA!” at the top of his lungs. (He was surely on drugs.) Confused, Kyle said, “I don’t understand…The website said the game was at 1:30.” We walked over to the tents where the TV cameras were setting up, and I asked a man what time the game would start and he said “20:45” (or 8:45 p.m.). Turns out Kyle had read the time on the United States ESPN website (which meant the game time was 1:30 p.m. Eastern time). D’OH! Since we were now 7 hours early for the game, we decided to go find a nice restaurant for lunch.

On a road just off the beaten path from the Colosseum, we found a restaurant with a
shaded outdoor patio. We sat down to enjoy one of the best meals of our trip so far. For antipasti, we ordered the fried artichoke, zucchini, cod and octopus plate. As Kyle put it, the fried cod tasted like “the best fish and chips ever!” For the main course, Kyle ordered lemon linguini with roe and zucchini, and I had risotto scampi. Both dishes were unique and scrumptious. We enjoyed a cold beer in the shade and then went on our way.

We had plenty of time to get some sightseeing and shopping in after lunch. We stopped at Piazza Venezia, which is a giant, beautiful building housing the tomb of the unknown soldier. We then shopped at stores along Via del Corso before retreating to our hotel for yet another siesta to escape the heat.

When it was finally closer to game time, we walked back to Circo Massimo, this time with a huge crowd of people with their faces painted, soccer jerseys and scarves on, and waving flags as they walked. Vespas whizzed by with Italian flags waving in the wind, all headed in the direction of the square. We stopped at a sandwich shop to bring a picnic with us to the game. We got caprese and salami sandwiches (which sadly turned out to be the worst meal of the trip), olives and beer.

When we arrived at the Circo Massimo the scene was quite different than what we saw earlier; the square was now filled with at least 100,000 people (and more kept streaming in), all wearing blue like the team jerseys or red, white and green like the Italian flag. Flags were waving and smoke bombs were being lit left and right, also giving off the colors of the Italian flag.

Awed by the site, but leery of how rowdy the crowd might get, we chose to sit on the hill off to the side of the main square. We sat on the grass between other travelers from Holland and Denmark. Here we had our picnic people watching and waiting for the game to start.

The fact that we were sitting in the country’s capital for the championship game sunk in when the TV screens showed the news and we saw the square where we were sitting. The crowd roared with cheers and vigorously waved the flags for the TV cameras. Soon the players took the field and Italy’s national anthem played loudly over the speakers. The crowd went even crazier, lighting off the brilliantly-colored smoke bombs and singing along.

Unfortunately, Spain dominated the game, scoring within the first 20 minutes. This sucked the energy from the crowd like letting helium out of a balloon. Spain scored again before the first half was over and the crowd went silent. Flags still waved in support, but the tension was palpable. We stood through halftime among the eerily silent crowd.

When the second half began, Italy had renewed energy and looked stronger and more confident on the field. Sadly, this revitalization was short-lived as Spain scored its third goal around the 70:00 mark. The crowd was getting anxious now and more smoke bombs were being lit. Kyle turned to me and said, “If you see one of those things fly in our direction, make sure you jump up quick and move.” No less than 10 minutes after he told me that, a fiery smoke bomb came streaking into the grassy hill where we sat and landed just two people away from us. I jumped up and grabbed Kyle’s arm. He quickly pushed me behind him to protect me from the heat. The people around the smoke bomb stomped on it, putting out the fire that had started in the grass. The two guys who were sitting were the smoke bomb landed complained of burns and left immediately for the first aid tents.

Shortly after the smoke bomb incident, we decided to leave and beat the crowds that would be streaming out of the square at the end of the game. As we walked away, we heard Spain score its fourth and final goal. The news the next day called the Spanish team “the best in history,” and it certainly showed as they dominated the entire game.

Despite the loss, the fans were surprisingly low-key as we walked away from the stadium. No one caused any trouble, and we saw no one rioting or vandalizing like often happens in the U.S. Even though Italy lost and we almost got lit on fire, this was such a cool cultural experience.