San Daniele del Friuli was an atmospheric neighborhood trattoria in Highbury that was once a regular destination for Arsenal’s players and management. It was a five-minute walk from the marble entrance to the stadium.
On Champions League nights the venue stayed open late and guests clapped heartily when manager Arsène Wenger dropped in for a drink and a bite to eat with vice-chairman David Dein. Players Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Freddie Ljungberg et al. often came to shower and change to relax with friends after the match. The owners, a pair of brothers who supported Udinese and Arsenal, treated everyone like family.
For a long time that was about as strong a bond as between Arsenal and Italy.
The signing of Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna, worth up to £42 million ($54 million), feels momentous for those of an Italo-Arsenal persuasion. It is the first time that the club has signed an Italian with star quality, a player in the best ‘calcio’ traditions of that country, who has his best years ahead of him.
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It is perhaps strange that so few important Italian players have found their way to Arsenal.
Italy may not be an exporter of footballers on par with France and, more recently, Spain, who have been dominant forces across the continent since the major leagues began cross-pollinating their talent in the 1990s. But it still ranks quite high on the list of countries other than England to have been represented in the Premier League since its inception.
Non-English countries by number of Premier League players
London’s Italian community has flourished since the 19th century, with the northern boroughs of Islington – the heart of the club – and neighboring Camden being among the most densely populated areas for Italians settling here.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we’ve never had an Italian manager, or maybe it’s just a curious quirk, but Arsenal have rarely gone down that footballing path.
Niccolo Galli was the first Italian to join Arsenal. A talented defender, he moved to Arsenal’s academy in 1999 and was part of the group that won the FA Youth Cup a year later. He was very highly regarded, but at a time when moving abroad as a teenager was still relatively new, he returned to Italy on a loan spell to continue his studies and football development. Tragically, he was killed at the age of 17 in a moped accident on the way home from training.
Galli was Arsenal’s first Italian player (John Walton/EMPICS via Getty Images)
Arturo Lupoli arrived in 2004 and fit into the ‘project youth’ model – a period when Arsenal deliberately targeted young players with great potential to help the club with cost-cutting measures as they paid for the construction of the Emirates Stadium.
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Cesc Fabregas was the favorite of a group that also included Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson, Carlos Vela and Philippe Senderos – teenagers coveted by scouts around the world as the best prospects of their generation. Lupoli was a talented striker who had broken scoring records as an under-17. But he never quite succeeded.
Then came Vito Mannone, a goalkeeper who was mainly a reserve during his Arsenal years. He spent eight years at the club and when he left he was replaced for a season by Emiliano Viviano, who never played a competitive match. Arsenal were then without an Italian for almost a decade, until coach Mikel Arteta signed Brazilian-born Azzurri midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea at the age of 31.
Pierluigi Pardo is a well-known voice on Italian TV as the main commentator for Serie A matches on broadcaster DAZN Italy. He has strong roots in English football having lived in London in his younger years, where he developed an affection for Arsenal.
“Italy has traditionally not been a great country for exporting football,” he says. “Italians feel more comfortable at home. As players began to move more freely around Europe, Arsenal were dominant in France and there was a greater Italian connection with Chelsea.”
Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola became beacons in blue for Arsenal’s London rivals. Together with the craze around Fabrizio Ravanelli in Middlesbrough, they brought all the sparkle of established stars when they came to England in 1996. But Italian players in the Premier League have rarely been so dazzling in the 20 years since that generation.
It is also notable that the most successful and high-profile Italians playing in England tend not to be defenders – perhaps surprising given the sacred status of the position in Serie A and for the Azzurri.
Andrea Rosati grew up in Parma, northern Italy, and first came into contact with Arsenal when the two teams met in the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup final.
Initially, the mere mention of the club’s name made him sick after Arsenal had done a job on a stylish Parma, winning 1-0. But over time, Rosati came to admire and adore Arsenal, and they became his favorite English club. “The values of the club, especially after Arsene Wenger came, stuck with me,” he says.
He is fascinated by the cultural changes that see someone like Calafiori arriving at Arsenal with a worldly outlook, excellent language skills and an adaptability that is modern and exciting.
Calafiori, second from right, next to now Arsenal teammate Jorginho at Euro 2024 (Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
“When I was growing up, Serie A was the driving force behind football in the mid-1990s, attracting the best players in the world,” he says. “It looked like the Premier League now exists.
“There was no big attraction to leave Serie A. Italian players were generally unwilling to leave and there were certain things about England that were not so inviting. Apart from the physical reputation of football, there were also basic things like the weather and food!
“Then Vialli and Zola happened, and that changed the whole picture. The Premier League became a thing. The arrival of Sky TV in Italy opened the door to other countries and competitions.”
Rosati notes that perspectives have broadened over the past decade. Language is no longer the barrier it once was as today’s generation picks up linguistics and ideas through social media. “The world is smaller,” he says. It is significant that Calafiori was able to express himself in fluent English in his signing video.
Benvenuto, Riccardo Calafiori🇮🇹
Meeting new teammates for the first time ❤️ pic.twitter.com/JbUhqOBCMN
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 29, 2024
As an Arsenal fan, Rosati is delighted with Calafiori’s signing. “It’s breathtaking,” he says. “He is flying and especially wanted to choose Arsenal. He fits perfectly with what Arteta represents and wants. What impresses most is probably his character. When he suffered a serious injury as a teenager, he responded with such courage to come back and to follow the path, by moving abroad, that would best benefit his football.”
That injury, and his choices afterward, made a big impression on Pardo. “Going to Basel (Calafiori left Roma to join the Swiss team in 2022) was a brave, open-minded decision,” he says. “Not many people in Italy would have made the same choice at the age of 20. Going to Switzerland, rather than staying in Italy to try to rebuild his career, challenged him personally and professionally, but it was very good for him. It’s like a student going on Erasmus and experiencing another country and different customs. It’s a sign of his personality.
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“Since then, Calafiori showed incredible growth in Bologna and subsequently confirmed his quality with the national team at the European Championship. He stands in the tradition of great Italian defenders. Even aesthetically he reminds us of Paolo Maldini or Fabio Cannavaro when he still had hair. He has technical quality, physical strength and consistency. He’s potentially great.”
Calafiori helped Bologna reach the Champions League last season (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
The official arm of the Arsenal supporters club, the Italian Gooners, are pleased to be able to support one of their own. They already had a banner at the Emirates – maybe it will be updated with some new images, or a hair transplant for decoration. Expectations are high.
“I like that he is already singing the song ‘That’s Amore’, which welcomes him to North London with its Italian culture,” says Cico Tagliavini, who lives in Highbury and has family roots in Bologna.
“I’m even happier because he comes from Bologna, which propelled his career in an historic season (they reached the European Cup/Champions League for the first time since 1964), which is an additional source of pride. He goes from one team I support to another. I am so excited to see him and he will do it on the biggest stages of them all.”
As legendary former Italian central defender Leonardo Bonucci said: “He will be a point of reference for our national team for the next fifteen years.”
Arsenal can only hope he achieves something similar for them.
(Top photo: Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)