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You can change everything. You can change your wife, you can change your husband, you can change anything. But there's two things you can never change in Italy. Your mama and the team you cheer for, and that's who you STAY WITH FOREVER. SO WHEN YOU GO TO A CALCIO MATCH HERE IN ITALY, I'm going to tell you going to soccer matches, football matches can be a fun time. And I'm going to give you a few tips if you're going to do this. One, don't feel you only can go to Serie A games, like the high level, the Juventus, Inter Milan, those kind of things. You can enjoy a calcio match no matter if it's Serie A, Serie B, the lower levels like I'm at right now. You
can have a fun time, okay? And the thing is, you're going to see good soccer. You're going to see good football. You're going to have a good time. But a few things I want you to remember. One, when you're going to buy your tickets, make sure you buy your tickets beforehand. And a lot of times you're going to have to actually buy your tickets with your ID. So when you come to the stadium, you're going to have to show your ID with your name on it that that ticket is yours. Because there are people that are not allowed in the stadiums. They don't want people sneaking in. So do be aware of that.
Also, if you're going to be in a way team like we are today, um don't be surprised if you do get patted down and they want to check to make sure you have nothing naughty with you when you go. Now, when you come to the stadium, if you're coming from the US or other places that have like lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of entertainment options, calcio matches in Italy don't have a lot of things going with it. Like you might literally just have beer, soda, and potato chips. And that's it. So don't think that you're going to have like, oh, we'll go to the game and have make a meal out of make a day out of it.
You can make a day out of it, but you're not going to have a meal and a lot of drinks because they like to control those kind of things. So don't expect a lot of refreshment options here. That's why a lot of people beforehand will actually go eat lunch before the game or plan for a dinner after the game, depending on the game is. And I'll tell you, that's one of the funnest things. Because if you go like, if you're with a visiting team and you go where they're having their meal or they're having their stuff before they go, I mean, that would be a fun time. Or a home game and you go where the home team fans are, you could have a nice time when you are there. And that's one of those things, it gives you a chance
to really see the locals get ready for the game. Because one thing I got to tell you, don't think the passion that they have for Calcio is the same as you have for like your college football team or your pro football team. Because in Italy, Calcio is life. Calcio is part of their religion. Remember the three live religions of Italy? Catholicism, uh cibo, food, and Calcio, soccer, okay? So, they really live their thing. This is their team. And they don't just cheer for a popular Serie A team. I'm here with my Vincenzo watching them. I got my lotto's. I've been going for years these games. And people cheer for their hometown team from the day they're born to the day they die, even if they're in the lower levels that
hopefully one day will leave. But it's one thing you should know. This is one of those fun situations you can have when you're here. Now, if you do come to a game, what I do recommend, don't forget you not make sure you don't wear the wrong colors or sit in the wrong seats. So, I'm actually in the visitor's section right now, so I've got my Lotto's for my Vincenzo team. I've got their stuff. But if I was going to be sitting with the locals, I would not be wearing that. So, do be aware of that. So, you think, "Oh, I'm going to wear my Juventus jersey because I got that years ago." And you're going to when they're playing Inter Milan and you're in Milan for it. Eh, you want to be careful with
that. One thing I will tell you about the games, um don't be surprised if you learn some interesting Italian words you've never heard before. Some good, some naughty. Uh so, do [snorts] be aware of that. But honestly, if you're going to go, I know it's a little rowdy with the away team kind of fans. But honestly, if you're with the away team, you sit up here, it's actually pretty chill. But if you're going to go to game and you're going to go sit with the home team kind of stuff, it actually they do have family seating where you can go and you don't have to worry about the crazy that people go for. I do want to tell
you though that the ultra fans can be a bit ultra, let's say, so be aware of that. But honestly, this is one of those things you want to experience Italian culture, it's a fun thing to do. And the thing is, one thing I love about going to calcio matches, especially not necessarily at the lower level ones, the affordability of going to the games. It's not like in the US where it's like $150 for a ticket. No. My ticket to this game was €10. Plus, I had to pay a €1.50 because I bought it online beforehand. And the thing is, 11.50. It's less than like some drinks you get at Starbucks, and you get to have a culture experience which you're going to love, and you get to see some really great calcio, really good soccer. So, I
hope this helps you get ready to go to your first calcio or second or third calcio match here in Italy. You want to go? They're crazy. They're awesome. You'll love YOUR TIME HERE. SO, FORZA RAGAZZI. Enjoy your time. You'll love when you go to a game here in Italy. The people are fantastic. The soccer is a thousand times better than you see back home, and you don't have to pay a lot of money. And you don't have to spend a lot of money. What more can you ask for? Go to a calcio match when in Italy. You can't go wrong. So, if you ever want to get like gear when you are in Italy, unless you're one of those big teams like Inter Milan or AC Milan or Roma, sometimes it's hard to
find it. And so, what I want to tell you is, don't forget to go look for the specific team shop that might be in a town. Like I was in Genoa, I was in Florence. If we define gear for their teams, I had to go to their actually team shop to get it. It was not easy to get around town. If you're going for a smaller team like Inter Milan, see. If you're going to be chance, which is very popular city with American soldiers and all kinds of stuff there, it's hard to get the gear. Sometimes you have to go to the actual stadium and have a shop there. And it may only be open like on a Saturday. So, you do need to check those things out because getting local gear is really fun because they do tailor it for
their team. So, it's not the same old everything looks the same like NBA games or NHL kind of stuff. They really do tailor it to each of the different teams. So, it can be fun. And it gives you something that's a little bit different than when you're going to get the same old jerseys everywhere else. So, you might get yourself a stocking cap. I got stocking caps. I have scarves. I have gloves. I have hoodies. I have t-shirts. I have shoes. I have balls. All kinds of stuff. You can get that. But it is a bit harder to find. Also, when you do go to look at the games, at the games they might not sell any of this kind of stuff. It might not be open. So, when you're thinking about your traditional like US going to
a game kind of thing, it's going to be very different, okay? The whole experience, shopping, food, and all kinds of stuff. And the alcohol still flows. But when do they stop the beer? When do they stop the alcohol? Half time? Yeah. So, and also don't forget the beer stops at half time. So, fill up at half time before they stop selling because otherwise you just got to watch the game without beer. Like this is me getting my beer out of the beer window. See it? So, uh heads up. So, another thing I want to talk about with the culture teams and stuff. I think it's really important to mention here. If your team does bad, like you're
in the bottom few teams, they actually get relegated down a level. So, imagine like Major League Baseball teams that do bad, they get knocked out of Triple A. They keep doing bad, they go down to Double A. They go down to Single A. Like they can get relegated down. So, there's a lot of like competition even at the end of the season not to be at the like bottom of the table. And the thing is if you're at the top of the table, you might have a playoff to go up a level. So, teams get really excited. So, even if you go to a game that doesn't seem very important, like you're like, "Oh, well, this team is like third in the
table. They're playing someone fifth in the table. It might make a difference for their seeding in terms of doing playoffs to go up into a higher liga or a lower liga. So, it's kind of interesting to see, but also makes some of the games much more passionate, much more exciting. Like, I'm here right now and Vicenza's fighting to have enough points so they can play in the playoff to go into Serie B. And you're like, wait, it's just a random game and no one's excited. No, no, people are excited and that's what's fun about it. They bring the excitement to the games. Even if it's a silly game. Like, look, the locals here, their team is totally out of it, so there's nobody here. But,
our team is very excited cuz, hey, if we do well, we win this, it gives us instead of being minus eight, we're only minus five like down in points. So, we have a better chance of getting a better seed. So, that's one of the things you have to understand is it is does it work a little bit different here in Italy than it does in the US because it's not just cuz you're owned by a billionaire, you get to stay in the upper leagues. Oh, no, no, if your team sucks, guess what? You go down and someone else goes up. And I've been to games all throughout Europe. It's been really fun to see with Augsburg back in the day when they got to the Bundesliga, which was fun. Here,
I've I've watched games with Vicenza when they're in Serie B. So, I'm going to say like the C level stuff, but it is kind of fun. And so, do enjoy the game because you never know how important that game is to the locals. We won. I would also mention, um, don't expect the greatest toilet situation ever because again, since they don't have the other amenities, all the extra stuff, the toilets may be a bit basic, just FYI. So, I got to tell you, if you come to a calcio match, especially if it's like Serie B or Serie C, uh, don't expect a lot of snacks and drinks. Like, maybe a beer and some potato chips. That's about it. So, be ready for that. Obviously, there's some non-alcoholic things, but it's much more
bare-bones than when about back at home, so uh, maybe play far before you go to the game. It's Gubbio vs. Cesena. I just want to reinforce how important it is that you have a team and you never change a team when you're here in Italy cuz there's a saying in Italy, you can change everything. You can change your wife, you can change your husband, you can change anything, but there's two things you can never change in Italy, your mama and the team you cheer for and that's who you stay with forever and that's one of the things where you see the passion even in these lower level games. Like this is Serie C game, you're still going to love it and the team is still going to cheer because it's their team down
here and it's always with them just like mama is always with you. I think another thing to mention you're in the US and people are blocking your view like they'll come and tell them sit down or get out of the way. Well, I'll tell you the flags and the people don't expect anybody to be sitting down in some of the games here because they are very passionate about the games. Obviously, if you're in more like sit down seats, it's more likely to sit down, but if you're in the bleacher seats, don't be surprised people stay on their feet the whole time because the bleachers get a little gross sometimes,
so you're going to stand up anyway, but the flags, the wind, stuff like that, you're just going to adjust where you are and enjoy your time when you're here because you never know. Sometime your team goes up 3-0. It can happen. Also, if you go to a game, just realize if the team you're playing against is really like out of a chance to advance and they're kind of like at the bottom of the table, things aren't going well, don't expect a lot of their supporters to be there cuz actually the game we're at, I think there was more of Gubbio Cesena supporters than there are Gubbio Cesena supporters, so be aware of that, but be respectful when you come to the games just like anywhere, fair [clears throat]
play is important even if you're a fan as well, okay? Can be interesting if you're the away team because you literally have a police presence to get you in and out of the stadium. So, when it's one of those crazy games like, you know, Torino versus Juventus, Sorrento versus AC Milan, or even like Vicenza versus Padova, you realize that sometimes it can get a bit rough. So, you want to be careful with those kind of games, okay? See, and this is FRIENDLY STUFF HERE. I MEAN, THIS IS FRIENDLY STUFF. I'M NOT JOKING. SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE A little beer window you go to and get a couple beers and some patatine, some potato chips, and that's it. But you're
going to enjoy the game because when you go to watch calcio in Italy, it's not about eating, drinking, and all the other stuff they have in the US and stuff. It's about the game and cheering on your fans and cheering on your friends and cheering on your team. And your team isn't just a top league. It could be way, way, way down farther. Sorry, Vicenza. I know we've been down here for a while, but you're still always going to have a good time. So, just remember it's going to be a little different, but it's going to be fun. So, cheer for your favorite team. Let us know who you love. It's Serie A. Serie B. Or maybe a little bit farther down. As for me, LANEROSSI FROM VICENZA.
