Genoa – The Ligurian capital, for Gigi Riva, it is above all Fabrizio De André. The left-handed racing cars of Rombo di Tuono, the voice and poetry of Faber. There was mutual passion between the two. Born at a distance and culminating in a special meeting between two souls who vibrated on the same frequencies. The goalscoring hero of Cagliari and the anarchist singer in love with the Griffin. Two who were friends before they met. An inevitable feeling. Two on the side of the weak, with in common the passion for Sardinia, a wild, true land, far from the noise of a world that too often asks you to be different from who you are.
Gigi Riva was struck by De André's music. His favorite song it was Prayer in January, dedicated to Luigi Tenco. Immediately followed by Bocca di Rosa and La Canzone di Marinella. Faber, a connoisseur and passionate about football and a Genoa player to die for, was bewitched by Rombo di Tuono's left-footed shot. He who dreamed of a star for Genoa, saw Gigi ignite Sardinia, giving the tricolor to Cagliari and dreamed of him with another rossoblù 11 on his shoulders. Two special, similar types, champions capable of exciting with their respective talents and their unique essence.
Fate decided to bring them together. Giuseppe “Beppe” Ferrero, midfielder, played for Cagliari in 1968/69 and became a friend of Riva. “Gigi passed on to me his passion for De Andrè, he listened to him from his first successes – he recalled in the past to Il Secolo XIX – The following season I went to play for Genoa and thanks to Nando, from the Mentana alla Foce restaurant, I met Faber who was coming to eat in the restaurant frequented by us players. Everything else came by itself.”
The first match of the 1969/70 championship, the season of the Sardinian epic, it was Sampdoria-Cagliari. The step from Marassi to Corso Italia, where De André lived, was short. Ferrero had organized the meeting: Riva at the Faber house. “I had told Fabrizio that Gigi was a fan of him, if he agreed to see him and as a football lover he was enthusiastic”. And so there they were, shy, with their full, deep silences. “We were at his house, facing each other on two different sofas – Rombo di Tuono then said – If I think about it … He was closed, I was ridiculous. At one point he got up and went to get a bottle of whisky. The 0-0 at Ferraris a few hours earlier immediately became 1-1: “He poured us a glass each, and then we set off like trains. I asked him a thousand questions, we stayed up until the wee hours, going from the joke to the highest levels.” Between more glasses of whiskey, cigarettes and a natural alchemy between two pure hearts.
A bond never broken. The former striker had Faber's photo on his bed. And all his records, the recorded concerts, which he never stopped listening to and loving. De André's art was the soundtrack to Riva's life. And the strongest Cagliari ever, that of an unrepeatable scudetto: “During the away games – the former striker had revealed – when we got on the bus with the team I had gained the privilege of sitting next to the driver and managing the music tapes . I always played Bocca di rosa and La canzone di Marinella. Although my favorite was Prayer in January. My teammates threw everything at me, but I didn't give up. De André taught me so much that if I said I wouldn't even know exactly what. Maybe I admired his behavior.”
“I remember when he came to visit my father. I was also there that day in the living room at home”, reveals Cristiano De André today. The magical meeting ended with an exchange, Faber's guitar to Riva, who still kept it in his house in Cagliari, where every evening he fell asleep listening to the concerts of the Genoese artist. The Sardinians' number 11 shirt goes to De André. “That shirt – continues Cristiano on Instagram – then ended up with me for a long time, I was proud to play football with my school friends. Unfortunately, a few years later they stole it from me in the locker room.”
Genoa for Gigi Riva is also a lot of football played. Against Sampdoria, at Amsicora, the first goal in Serie A, dated 27 September 1964: “The problem is that we didn't stop celebrating, so after 30 seconds they equalised”. Barison network. And 1-1, until the end. GiggiRiva scored ten goals against the Blucerchiati, 3 against Marassi. Three goals scored against Genoa, including two against Ferraris. Stadium in which with the national team he scored a poker in the 5-0 defeat of Luxembourg on 31 March 1973, the most prolific match for the Italian striker from Leggiuno.
He hung up his shoes, Riva returned to Zena as accompanying manager of the national team more than once. As in April 2004, Italy-Spain final catwalk for Roberto Baggio, the Divine Codino who follows Rombo di Tuono in the Italian top scorer rankings. For Riva it was the occasion of a tribute to Faber, in via del Campo, in Gianni Tassio's shop. “Here in Genoa in the 60s and 70s I was at home, I had friends like Manera and Ferrero – said Rombo di Tuono holding Fabrizio's Esteve 97 – De André loved Sardinia, a bit like I loved Genoa”.
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