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| Atalanta fans display a banner with Cesare Lombroso at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples (images via Facebook) |
During the January 2nd Coppa Italia match between Atalanta and Napoli at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples, visiting Atalanta fans displayed a banner marred with the repulsive visage of Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909), a notorious criminologist who experimented on the severed heads of fallen Bourbon soldiers and loyalists in the wake of the Piedmontese conquest of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. It was a crude stunt, meant to provoke and denigrate the hosts. It did not go unnoticed.
At yesterday’s league match between these two sides in Bergamo (Jan. 21st.), Napoli fans retorted with a sign of their own. However, instead of responding with anger, invective, or an equally vulgar prank, the Neapolitans simply unfurled a banner emblazoned with the noble image of HM Francesco II di Borbone, the last king of of the Two Sicilies.
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| Napoli fans respond in kind with a Francis II banner at the Stadio Atleti Azzurrii d'Italia in Bergamo |
The imagery and meaning of the two signs could not be more contrasting: Lombroso was a macabre charlatan who tried to prove the inferiority of southern Italians, while our beloved King was a pious and humble man who loved his people and his land. Lombroso and his ilk imposed themselves on a conquered people, while Francis II evokes a time when our people were autonomous and proud. Lombroso is a relic of a squalid and pernicious past, while Francis II symbolizes a hopeful and, dare I say, independent future for our people.
Forza e onore! Viva ‘o Rre!
