The scent of Sunday grass, the clatter of studs on concrete courts, and that rascal nostalgia for a football that hadn't yet spoken the language of algorithms and global finance. "Tiri a porta," the latest work by journalist Flaviano De Luca, published by Intra Moenia, has arrived in bookstores and online. The book, featuring a prestigious presentation by maestro Enzo Avitabile, presents itself as a sentimental journey into the heart of Naples just as the club celebrates its first hundred years, with the tricolor still sewn onto its chest. It's not just a sports book, but a veritable archive of the soul that, as the press release states, "retraces beloved seasons and characters, from Canè to Juliano, to the Argentine colony of Pesaola and Sivori, sanctified by the wonders of Maradona."
In an era of silent stadiums and live streams, De Luca chooses to freeze time to restore dignity to a people's rituals. The pages recount the meticulous compilation of the betting slip, the feverish anticipation for the radio commentary, and those lucky items that every fan treasured like relics. The story focuses particularly passionately on the 1960s, celebrating the team that lifted the first Coppa Italia, but the true protagonist is the collective feeling of a city that experienced the match as an unmissable event, amid "the collective shouting, the standing for two hours, and the intoxication of that sea of green grass that you gaze into every Sunday."
Through over sixty period photographs, the author reconstructs a world where football was synonymous with freedom and youthful unity. "Everywhere," the author explains, "there's a hint of nostalgia for a more romantic and sensible era, that of the Napoli of Altafini and Sivori. The era of playing in the streets or in the courtyard with long, youthful challenges, series of penalties and endless dribbling." It's the memory of a football that began with two rocks as posts and ended only when the sunlight no longer allowed the ball to be seen. "Where we started on the pitch near the house with a couple of shots at goal and ended at dusk, with prolonged dribbling, over-high shots, and very short goalkeepers, chasing a Supersantos who had gone out," De Luca recalls with emotion.
The work, however, does not forget modernity. In the section entitled Neapolitan Pantheon, the text collects statistics, attendance records, and portraits of the champions who have lit up the San Paolo stadium, later renamed the Maradona Stadium, in more recent times. From Mertens to Lavezzi, all the way to current giants like Osimhen and Koulibaly, the book stitches together past and present in a single, great Azzurri epic steeped in history and legend.
In short
The smell of Sunday grass, the sound of studs on the concrete courtyards, and that rascal nostalgia for a ball that didn't yet speak the language of algorithms and…
- "Tiri a porta," the latest work by journalist Flaviano De Luca, published by…, has arrived in bookstores and online stores.
- The volume, which boasts a prestigious presentation by maestro Enzo Avitabile, presents itself as a sentimental journey into the heart…
- It's not just a sports book, but a true archive of the soul which, as the press release states,…
Key questions
What is the main point of the news?
The smell of Sunday grass, the sound of studs on the concrete courtyards, and that rascal nostalgia for a ball that didn't yet speak the language...
Why is this news relevant?
"Tiri a porta," the latest work by journalist Flaviano De Luca, published by…, has arrived in bookstores and online stores.
Which detail helps us understand the case better?
The volume, which boasts a prestigious presentation by maestro Enzo Avitabile, presents itself as a sentimental journey into the heart of Naples just as…
It seems to me to be a social chronicle of a city that experienced the match as a ritual, with sweet words and statistics and details, but the verbs are often wrong and the sentences collect words stuck together, the reading remains pleasant but not precise.
The photographs are numerous and beautiful, but following the text leads to a loss of meaning. It seems the author wanted to convey a moment of nostalgia and finds himself mixing past and present without clear boundaries. The Pantheon section seems like a list, not always useful, but it conveys emotion.
The book talks about memories, but it's not just about sport, you can smell the Sunday grass and the strength of the studs, and yet the author calmly examines the players, but sometimes the story gets lost due to too many descriptions: it remains, however, a gentle work, not very analytical, without too many pretensions.