The links of the heart. All the colors of sport

The two books of today are, first of all, wonderfully beautiful. I am referring precisely to an aesthetic fact: colors, illustrations, images, graphic choices. Two books that speak to the heart, romantically intended as the seat of passion and memory, but also to sight, touch, hearing, even taste and smell. All our senses, in fact, will awaken by leafing through these pages that refer us to a very clear mantra to anyone who is in love with sport: “Only for the shirt”. We will remember, clear and evident, the sensations of when we saw our “heart shirt” for the first time running on a green lawn or parading on a bicycle, when we felt it between our fingers, when our ears have listened to the roar of passion for her in the curve of a stadium or at the edge of a road at the passage of the Giro d’Italia; we will remember how good that sandwich was eaten by her wearing it or the perfumes (and also the smells) that emanated after a day with her on. That such a publishing project could hit millions of fans straight to the heart seems evident, yet not many thought about it. Honor to the merit, therefore, of two publishers who have chosen the storytelling of cycling and soccer jerseys. Let’s start, in order of publication, from sport on wheels: Chris Sidwells, The legendary cycling jerseys. The stories of the champions and the teams who wore them (Edicycle, 2017). Sidwells’ book recounts historical evolutions, but also of materials, starting with the white jacket worn by the first winner of the Tour de France, Maurice Garin, a Aosta Valley boy by birth, who moved to France as an economic migrant. Then the wool jerseys, the first with a sponsor embroidered, the jerseys that identify the legendary champions such as the world champion one, those of the national teams or those that identify the leaders of the Grand Tours, the jerseys of the teams from the postwar period to today that have made us dream millions of cycling enthusiasts. And to understand what this passion is, just look at what happens every year at the Eroica in Gaiole in Chianti where thousands of amateurs wear those ancient shirts with pride, pedaling on the white roads of Chianti and Siena.

The second book is by Osvaldo Casanova, Gino Cervi, Gianni Sacco, Calciorama. The colors of passion (Hoepli publisher, 2022). A true novel, where each of the twenty chapters is combined with a football color. “As children we fall in love with a shirt and its colors. Because there are garments that more than others, between warp and weft (and dyeing), seem to trap a soul. This is how football typhus was born, one of the most viral diseases in the world ”. For honesty I choose the chapter of the color that trapped my soul, the one dedicated to the grenade. The sleeves of Valentino Mazzola’s shirt, pulled up as a signal for his teammates in the moment of difficulty, the color of Barbera, especially the color of the red handkerchief, which became garnet because it was soaked in blood, of a soldier wounded in the throat by a bullet that managed to reach the Duke Vittorio Amedeo di Savoia on the Superga hill (exactly, right where the Grande Torino plane will crash) announcing, before falling lifeless, the victory against the French and Spanish who for four months had besieged the city of Turin. How can you not love a shirt (and a book) like this? Look for the stories of your favorite football color and enjoy the extraordinary illustrations by Osvaldo Casanova. Trust me: this book is one of the most beautiful surprises in sports literature of recent years.