Francis Rutelli with the tricolor band a few years before Gualtieri did not hide his passion for Lazio and the season ticket in Tribuna Tevere. Often at the Olimpico with his wife Barbara Palombelli, he remembers the phrase of Lazio pride, repeated like a mantra: “We were born in 1900, 27 years before Roma…”. “Mayors in the past were mainly Juventus and Milan supporters, but they declared themselves Roman supporters”, Rutelli himself said a few years ago, after leaving the Campidoglio. Today with AdnKronos he adds: “The mayor does everything, he takes care of everyone, I have also inaugurated the square dedicated to Dino Viola in Trigoria, and I have reopened the Campo di Testaccio of Rome”. “But of course cheering is sacred …”, he says, ‘acquitting’ – at least a little – the democratic successorat the center of the controversy after the shot posted in the shadow of the Colosseum in the company of the new signing Romelu Lukaku, striker on loan to Rome, who has just landed at Ciampino.
The photo of Gualtieri smiling with Big Rom made the Giallorossi fans rejoice, the Biancocelesti ones (and the patron Lotito) angry. The Roman mayor’s travels as ultras also weigh on the negative judgments, who in the last two years has been seen in the stands for the European finals, first in Tirana in the Conference League, then last year in Budapest in the Europa League. That of the football support of the mayors of Rome is an age-old issue, albeit a thorny one. And not everyone, over the years they have put their face on it. Who by bluffing, who by lack of sporting passion, who by detachment from the colors of the capital’s teams.
In 2013, the then mayor of Rome, Ignatius Marino, Genoese by birth but with (lukewarm) Giallorossi football faith on the eve of the Capitoline derby was a guest of Aldo Biscardi on TV, at his ‘Process’, showing up surprisingly with a slightly yellow-red, a bit blue and white scarf. However, the declared goal of not making enemies of anyone was not achieved at all, amidst accusations of hypocrisy and opportunism, which reverberated around the city in a tom-tam of boos and criticism of the mayor.
Juventus player, but declared, Walter Veltroni, took over the baton in the shadow of Marcus Aurelius in 2001 from Rutelli. For the founder of the democratic party it was easy to navigate between the opposing fans of the capital. On the occasion of the October 2001 derby, Veltroni was joined on the Campidoglio by Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta, the first with the Giallorossi flag, the second with the Biancocelesti. In favor of flash, the shot immortalized a handshake between the captains to launch the anti-violence campaign in the stadiums. Perhaps silently regretting his captaincy, Alex Del Piero.
In recent times Alemanno and Rays tried to shuffle the cards: the first ‘agnostic’ with a sympathy for Lazio, born to satisfy the more marked one of his son Manfredi, but also a little for Rome, in homage to the wife of the time, Isabella Rauti, now senator of Fdi. The second most unbalanced on Lazio, in homage to her husband. “I don’t support either of the two teams -explained Alemanno-. I’m above the parties, I support the Roman teams, because I have a son from Lazio and a wife from Rome”. Now on the photo of Gualtieri-Lukaku he is not scandalized that much: “I’m afraid -he tells AdnKronos- that the mayor hasn’t understood that people don’t care about these things… I can’t find anything negative in a photo, but this doesn’t make him more sympathetic to the Romans, who evaluate him on the services and cleanliness of the city, rather than on the photo-opportunities”.
“Do I support Rome or Lazio? I certainly like the Biancocelesti more, my husband is from Lazio”, said the pentastellata Raggi in an interview in 2016 with reference to her husband Andrea Severini. “When the derby is on, I don’t even notice it, the only thing I notice is the disaster that forms around the stadium, the whole city is paralyzed”, he cut short before arriving at the Capitol, to try to resolve (also) the traffic problem in the Olympic area.
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