Authoritarian regimes often used sports, especially football, for propaganda. For example, Mussolini did it in the 1934 World Cup, and was “copied” by Brazil in 1950 – except they lost the final match. Other times the kermesse is created out of nothing. This is the case of the Gold Cup played in Uruguay between 1980 and 1981. A basically useless competition, wanted by the deviated Masonic Lodge P2 and the Uruguayan dictatorship…
Japanese women obtained two important sport achievements, 1964 Olympic volley and 2011 football world cup, that went beyond a normal success. Those victories helped an entire country to lift up the national spirit in delicate moments…
Football (or soccer for those who live in the U.S.) is loved and treated like a religion by many fans because is not an exact science. So, even if it’s not likely, sometimes happens that the underdog takes the trophy home, against all odds. There are many Cinderella stories, like Denmark 1992, Greece 2004, Iraq 2007…
In Brazil soccer is way more than just a sport. It’s unconditional partecipation, faith and sometimes a reason for living. And, as sometimes happens all around the world, a reason for dying. What happened in the World Cup played in their homeland in 1950, luckily, is unparalleled in the history of this competition. 90 certified deaths between suicides and heart attacks, due to the emotional charge of the final against Uruguay…
“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The apartment is in an 19th century building, recently restored, along one of the most elegant and fashionable streets of the city, famous for its clothes shops, the theatre and bars. It's the big avenue that marks the northern limit of the ancient neighborhood in Roma, the legendary Rione Monti, full of alleys, churches and small squares. New meeting point for young people, few steps away from the Colosseum. The possibility to live the two souls of Roma, so big and cozy, The Great Beauty ! :-)
