Split loyalties for Italy’s Anglophiles as final approaches

For some Italians, supporting England is second nature, but not tonight

Italian fans on the beaches of the Roman coast waving flags and tricolor scarves ahead of the final (EPA)

Fabio Bergonzini loves England.

Since he was a child, the tour guide from Bologna has been obsessed. Not with the UK as a whole – but England in particular.

“I love everything English – from your literature to the music, history, landscape, tradition, architecture and lifestyle,” he says.

“It’s in my skin – from Pride and Prejudice to Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland to Mary Poppins, Judi Dench to Julie Andrews. I just love England.”

Yet there is one place his love for England cannot take him.

Although he is “extremely excited” that the final will be at Wembley, a place he describes as “so important to me”, he will be supporting Italy tonight.

“Italians are nationalist in a weird way,” he says.

“We love Italy, we think it is the most beautiful country in the world, we think it’s a privilege to be living here, but the fact that Italy was fractured until recently has had some kind of subconscious effect on us.

“Italians are united by times of national crisis, like the pandemic, or by football, when it’s the national team playing.

“We don’t do it for other sports, but football somehow puts roots into the most intimate parts of our souls, and brings out our nationalism.”

So tonight, surrounded by his English tea service and Cool Britannia pop memorabilia, he’ll be cheering on the “Azzurri”.

He is not alone. Gilda Faleri, from Tuscany, is the Anglophile and royalist behind The Queeg, a Windsor-watching blog for Italians.

And although she’s supported England in the past, she, too, will be supporting Italy tonight.

“I love the organisation, meritocracy and transparency that reign in England, the freedom that you breathe walking through the streets of London, and the eccentricity of the English,” she says.

“But football is one of the things that makes us feel Italian.

“Winston Churchill said that Italians lose football games as if they were wars, and lose wars as if they were football games.

“Obviously that’s an exaggeration but football is very, very important for Italians.

“If Italy weren’t in the final I’d support England, as I always have done, but since we are, I have to say, ‘Forza Italia’.”

It’s not just Anglophile Italians who are abandoning “gli inglesi”. Such is the national fervour in Italy that third-country nationals and even some English expats are rooting for the Azzurri.

“I’ve never been an avid football fan but I’ve always supported England in championships,” says Jason Lupton, who moved from Leeds to the Pisa area last year.

“I think it’s only right to support the nation in which you live, and I live in a wonderful small community who have been so welcoming to me.

“We watch the Italy matches in our piazza. The whole town, young and old, gathers for food and drink to cheer on Italy.

“There are no ‘hooligans’, arguing or fighting. Everyone is united and enjoying the experience as a community.

“After the restrictions of Covid it is exactly what we’ve needed to bring everyone together.”

Francesco Amorosino, a half English, half Italian professional footballer from Rome, thinks that England will win tonight thanks to their home advantage – but that doesn’t stop him being a fervent Italy supporter.

So much so that he even supported Ukraine in the quarter-finals, because he wanted an easier ride for Italy.

“My dad is Italian and he’s always been by far the bigger fan, so from a young age there’s never really been a debate,” he says.

“My mum is quite torn today because she’s English and wants to support England but knows that the rest of the family will be heartbroken if it doesn’t go well for Italy.”

Italian fans on the beaches on Sunday (EPA)

The 2018 World Cup was the only time he’s “let my English side take over”, he says – as Italy failed to qualify.

In fact, he’s even worked out a strategy for the Italians tonight.

“I noticed the England fans went quiet after Denmark scored [in the semis],” he says.

“If Italy can somehow get a goal early on [and silence the fans], that’ll be a huge factor.”

The match tonight is so important that even Italy’s cultural heavy-hitters are being pulled into the fray. Eike Schmidt, the German director of the Uffizi Galleries, who’s previously lived in London and the US, let it be known through his spokesperson that he’s rooting for Italy.

James Bradburne, the British-Canadian director of Milan’s Brera gallery, declined to comment, while Giuseppe Albano MBE, the British-Italian director of the Keats-Shelley House in Rome, is playing both sides, saying he’d be “honestly thrilled with whoever wins”.

Such is the nationalist fever that a closet England supporter from Naples told The Independent they could not speak, even anonymously, on the advice of their lawyer.

“Ah yes,” said a Roman, on hearing the news.

“In Naples, they’d probably end up in a block of cement.”