John is Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Bristol. His publications include Calcio: A History of Italian Football, Harper, 2006, Pedalare, Pedalare. A History of Italian Cycling, Bloomsbury, 2011 and The Man who Closed the Asylums. Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental health care, Verso, 2015.
After the 1966 World Cup, the Italian team were greeted with rotten tomatoes at the airport. In 1982, they returned with the trophy itself, in triumph. This lecture looks at how national identity and the national football team are linked in Italy and at reactions to sporting victory and disaster.
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