Ultrà of Rome and Naples, how the rivalry was born. The Ciro Esposito murder – Corriere.it

Sunday afternoon a hundred ultras from Naples attacked the ultras from Rome passing through the highway near Badia al Pino. The Giallorossi responded by starting a guerrilla war on the A1. The history of the rivalry

It was the derby del Sole for the joyful climate reference to an alliance born in an anti-northern key, which for years has become a game that cannot be played at night to manage public order. Relations between the supporters of Naples and Rome have long since gone far beyond the sporting rivalry, arriving at a criminal context in which even the ambush away from the stadiums is not new. The 90-minute films from the 80s all open with the curves exchanging scarves and pennants at the Olimpico or at the San Paolo, merging the blue and yellow and red in mutual encouragement. Those were the years of pre-Maradona Napoli and Falcao’s Roma, who challenged the power of Juve, Inter and Milan in different ways. The growth of Napoli and Liedholm’s Roma scudetto began to spice up the challenge. According to ultra legends, the first episode that exacerbates relations would be that of thearrival in blue of the former Lazio player Bruno Giordano, targeted on 26 October 1986 from the Curva Sud. A year later Napoli plays for the first time at the Olimpico as champion of Italy. In the usual exchange of scarves, the blue emissary was greeted badly, the match was very heated and after the draw in 9 against 11 Salvatore Bagni rejoiced under the South with the gesture of the umbrella (for which he apologized several times). the final fracture.

Three years later the first racist chants of the Giallorossi fans against the Neapolitans were recorded and the FIGC introduced territorial discrimination in sports justice. In the 1990 World Cup final against Germany, Maradona addresses the famous hijos de puta to the Olimpico who whistles the Argentine anthem. It goes without saying who the Neapolitans side with.

From there on a drift in the black news. In 2001 ten thousand Roma fans one step away from the Scudetto are greeted by a stone throwing in Fuorigrotta. On December 8, 2005, again in Naples, this time for the Coppa Italia, another ambush for the Romanists. On May 4, 2008, 17 Napoli fans were arrested for the assault on a bus of Roman fans headed for Genoa. That same year, scuffles broke out at Termini station, where the Azzurri passed: a Neapolitan stabbed and seven ultras from both sides arrested. Finally on May 3, 2014. Napoli-Fiorentina is played in the Italian Cup final. The Neapolitan fans heading to the Olimpico are confronted by the former head of the Romanist ultras (and far-right militant) Daniele De Santis, who fires a pistol from his hideout and wounds 26-year-old Ciro Esposito. The boy died a month later and De Santis was sentenced to 26 years (later reduced to 16). Since, despite an appeal launched by Francesco Totti, applauded at the San Paolo in his last appearance, no one is hoping for a truce anymore.

The feud is also immune to changes in fan bases: the South is now right-wing (once of opposite prevalence), the Napoli supporters are apolitical, divided into the tougher Curva A (which, however, has accepted the fan card and goes away) and the more passionate Curva B. Neapolitans in Rome and Romans in Naples have been banned ever since. With a cool head, one can reason whether this intersection on the motorway could have been avoided as well.