A cultural symbol that is particularly important to me is a scarf celebrating Napoli’s soccer team’s third national Italian championship in 2023, their first after 33 years. It means a lot to me because I have been a huge fan since the day I was born, following the passion of my great grandfather (who was a teenager when the club was founded), my grandfather, and my dad.
This symbol is important to me because I had been waiting for this moment every day for over 18 years, and had lived through many ups and downs of the team, shaping my emotional well-being every single week of my life. In addition, it represents an intimately passionate connection within my family, especially my father and grandfather with whom I watched thousands of games with.
This cultural object also represents much deeper values and beliefs that speak to aspects of my culture being from Naples, Italy. My dad is from Naples, but I was born and raised in Rome. Although they are only a two and a half hour drive apart, these two cities have very different cultures and are unique in many ways – from food preferences to people’s personalities. This has created a lot of divide and conflict that dates back to centuries, recently being further accentuated by the rivalry between the two soccer teams. Neapolitans have a culture that is probably the most unique in all of Italy, and have been subject to discrimination from people from the “north” (and central Italy) on a very regular basis. Growing up in Rome, even as a small child, I would hear slurs and insulting stereotypes (like being dirty, smelly etc.) about Naples constantly. This did not make me feel shy about my cultural identity, instead it had an opposite effect: I was proud and wanted to show where I was from. This is why, even at the age of four and even when I didn’t have after school soccer practice, I would wear my Napoli shirt every day to school. My parents’ punishment for when I misbehaved was to not allow me to wear a Napoli shirt. Napoli and Roma’s violent rivalry escalated in 2014 when Rome fans killed a famous Naples fan. Since then, there have been many more conflicts and racist chants that I would need to live through regularly. That is why winning the national championship after 33 years was not only a huge joy as a sports victory, but was even bigger on a deeper level in terms of my own cultural pride and glory.
