Noi siamo i veri Campioni d'Italia

We are the real Champions of Italy! We beat Inter 2-1 last night with goals from Mexes and Perrotta. Mexes' goal was amazing... like a real real striker.





Sitting in the 5th row wasn't great.. the view was poor as you are so low and you can't see the pitch well at all. I was surprised that the atmosphere was so good in Tevere but I've just heard that the lower part of the Curva Sud were sitting right next to me! That explains why we had to stand up and why there were the huge flags!!


Finally we get to see Roma win at home. We have won the last two trophies in Milan. Great to see Totti there and lift the trophy. The highlight was Vucinic hot wiring the medical golf cart with Taddei and driving around like F1 drivers! There were crazy! They then grabbed the cup and drove around under the Inter fans that were trapped inside the stadium for security reasons, having to watch us celebrate!


Celebrating went on late into the night. Car horns, flags... amazing atmosphere in the city until late into the night.

Grazie Roma!

Troppo Bello!

Saw this on the asromaultras site and couldnt resist.... the lower balcony has a Inter Flag and the above balcony has a baner hanging down saying Ladri (thieves!)....

Thats all I can face for now.... im still getting over not winning the Scudetto.

Catania-Roma 1-1, Parma-Inter 0-2…..Grazie Roma….Grazie Ragazzi….

For an hour we lived the dream and were Campioni d’Italia thanks to a goal from Vucinic. Inter were held to 0-0 at Parma until the 16th minute of the second half when of course Ibra scored. He came on and scored two goals, ending our hopes and dreams and Roma seemed to suddenly tire and concede the goal which allowed Catania to stay in Serie A. As I write this 2000 Roma fans are awaiting the arrival of the team at Fiumicino airport to thank them for a fantastic year. How things have turned around in the 3 years that Spalletti has been in charge. They really do deserve to celebrate a successful year. Hopefully we can win the Coppa Italia on Saturday which we really deserve.

Obviously the day was full of violence. Inter fans in Parma celebrated by trashing a school next to the stadium and injuring 2 policemen during riots (1 badly). Upon arrival at the stadium the Roma team bus was attacked and a window smashed. I guess it was best that they didn’t allow our fans to travel there, especially if the behaviour of those pitch-side was anything to go by. When Catania scored Catania employees ran by the Roma bench and threw insults at them. Catania players had spent the entire game trying to wind up our players. Luckily they didn’t rise to it.

Again Grazie Roma…c’e lo facciamo l’anno prossima. E Daje!

Trying not to think about tomorrow.....

I'm trying not to think about tomorrow so I'll talk about other things......

RB returned from Torino yesterday full of Juve stories and most importantly with my Italia shirt signed by Buffon!! He even wrote my name on it! RB is now forgiven for going to Torino without me.

All of the Juve players were very nice and polite, except for Del Piero, who isn't well liked amongst people there. All of the Juve players have been given Fiat 500s and apparently at the training ground there is a car park for only Fiat and Alfa cars. If you have another car brand you have to park in a separate car park far away!

Next Saturday we have the Coppa Italia Final against Inter (again....) here in Rome. Since the ground is in theory neutral the ticket sales have been run by the league and hence us season ticket holders didn't get priority on tickets.

Tickets went on sale at 4pm on Thursday, so expecting loads of people I went to my local lottomatica at 2pm to get in the queue. However, it seems that here in Italy it doesn't work like that. Since I've never had to queue with the masses for big match tickets (as I'm a season ticket holder) I didn't realise that the fans create their own system! They had been giving out numbers since 8am!!!!!! At 2pm I stood no chance so after 2 hours of waiting I gave up and went home.

Yesterday morning I read that there were still tickets left so off I went again. I still needed to have a number!!! I was given umber 235!!!!! They were only at 130! Luckily most of the people didn't come back so in 2 hours I had my precious ticket! It's for the 5th row (not good) in Tevere....I hate Tevere as it's too far from the Curva and the atmosphere isn't the same. Plus I had to pay 60 euro (twice that of Distinti where I usually sit). At least I will be there..... Roma had just better win!

Daje Roma!

Life isn't fair..............

It has been decided that us Romanisti are no allowed to travel to Catania for the most important match in years! It has been deemed as a high risk match so we are not allowed to attend. It’s not the same story for our title rivals though. They will be allowed to travel to Parma which gives them an unfair advantage over us.

The major of Rome wanted to put up a big screen at Circo Massimo so we could all watch the match there but both Roma and the fans have rejected the idea as we don’t want to tempt fate. We all remember Napoli-Roma in 2001, with the big screen at San Giovani…. We only drew and the Scudetto celebrations were put on hold for a week.

RB has gone to the Juve training ground today. He just called to say that had met Del Piero, who was extremely unfriendly (unlike our Capitano) and stunk of perfume! I’m so jealous!! Wish I was there. He has just finished watching their training session. My Italia shirt had better come back with Buffon’s autograph on it!

Here is are photos of Del Piero and the Juve training ground.

The pain of the Italian System

This morning I thought I would pop along to renew my ID Card (Carta d'Identita). Having moved a month ago I needed to change the address on it. I was told that since it was to expire in November I should wait month so as not to pay the penalty fee which is applied if you have to change it over 6 months before the expiry date. OK i know I should never ever have thought that this would be straight forward... I've been here 6 years now and should have learnt my lesson by now...you take along every document you possess, along with a photocopy or two of each of these documents and you do not produce anything until you are asked for it (otherwise they will ask for something you don't have!).

When changing my address last month I didn't require anything so I didn't take my passport along with me. I wait in the queue to collect the form, for which i have to pay the 5.45 Euro tax and then the Signora starts to demand the documents. She asks for my permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) which was abolished in April 2007. I tell her this and explain that I was told that since I am a resident here and have an Italian ID card I was not required to do anything (my permit had expired in April 2007). Oh but no..this was wrong....of course!!! I should have applied for the Attestazione di Soggiorno which is a piece of paper, which a stamp of course, which states where I live (why wasn't this required when I changed address at the same office a month ago??!!!). So off I go back to the original office and get in another queue.

Here I'm told I need to go and buy a stamp (tax) for 14.62 Euro before we can start! In February 2007 I had paid to renew my permit at the post office as required and never received the permit due to the change in the Law. I mentioned this as I don't see why I should be paying twice for the same document. Its not my fault they changed the procedure. I was told that this process was previously run by the police and now its run by the Commune (council). So basically I pay for being a law abiding citizen.....and they wonder why people avoid taxes here!!!!

So while I am filling in more forms RB runs to get the stamp (from the tabacconists!) and in the mean time I'm hit for another 52 cents for another stamp!!!! Then she starts pondering..well if i wanted until August I could have a permit which allows me to stay indefinitely...mmm... what should she do... in the end she decides to give it to me any way, telling me how lucky I am and that they wouldn't do this anywhere else! Then out comes the rubber stamp, bang, bang, bang and we are done.

Off I go back to the first office thinking I now have everything. Oh no... now i need my UK ID Card, which I explain does not exist! So I now need my passport, which obviously I don't have. So the Signora takes all my documents off me and demands I go home and get it! Which I do and return and queue for another hour until I am called into get my ID Card. This involves no conversation with the rude employee, out comes the rubber stamp again - bang, bang, bang and I'm sent on my way! At least I don't have to go through this again for another 5 years!!!!!!! These places are horrible!!!!!!!

It isn't over yet! Roma-Atalanta 2-1, Inter-Siena 2-2

OH MY GOD! I can't believe it! I was nearly crying tears of joy! We are still in with a chance of the Scudetto!!! Who would have thought it! I spent the entire 90 minutes watching the match and listening to the radio along with half the stadium! Each time Siena scored it was like we had scored the screaming was so loud! So it is all down to the last match, which both Roma and Inter play away. Obviously Roma fans won't be allowed to travel to Catania and I only hope that the Inter fans are banned from travelling to Parma otherwise it will provide an unfair advantage. I bet Mancini had kept his mouth shut when he said the campionato was over 5 weeks ago! And I bet Figo wishes he hadn't run over that black cat this week!

The Curva Sud were lamer than ever today. Hardly any singing and it wasn't full. How things have changed since the year of the scudetto. It just isn't the same any more. The stadium was no where near full which was surprising considering we are still in with a chance of winning the title.


The players did a giro round the pitch at the end with their kids which was really sweet, just as they did last year. Great to see Totti there too. At about 20 mins from the end a sea of stewards emerged which was strange... it used to be the police. Not trouble this year so i guess having stewards is working.



Can someone tell me how this can not hurt?!



FORZA ROMA e FORZA PARMA!!!!!

First Trip to the Beach

I made my first trip down to the beach at Ostia yesterday and successfully burnt myself! I'm now a lovely shade of red down my front and a blinding white all down my back! There was a breeze so I didn't realise how hot it was.... you would think I would have learnt my lesson by now!

Here in Italy you have pay to a beach if you want to have facilities. showers, sunbeds etc. The Stabilimento that I usually go to last year cost 16 euro for the entrance and sunbed... crazy prices...I dread to think how much they will cost this year. Yesterday I decided to slum it since it is still early in the season and we haven't reached the point where the entire of Rome goes to the beach on a Saturday. We went to a free beach - cancelli as they are called here- (usually full of people, dirty and no facilities) but it wasn't too bad. Although I don't think I'll be going in the middle of August!

Summer is finally here!!!!!!

Jealousy

Now is this fair? RB's friend works as Ranieri's assistant at Juve and RB announced yesterday that he is off to Torino next week for a couple days with the boys to go and visit Juve's training ground and meet the players. It seems I am not invited, being female and it being Juve and not Roma. Can you tell that I'm not taking this very well?! OK so maybe I hate Juve but who wouldn't love the chance to go and meet the players (hello...how hot is Buffon?!)?! I'm the one that goes to the stadium every week and is football crazy while RB is an arm chair fan. He dosen't understand why I am so annoyed not to be going! I've been promised a visit to Torino next season but ..... i want to go now! I already missed my chance to meet the team after Roma-Juve. The friend called us to go meet up with him but we had already left! Uffa! I guess its just not meant to be. However, if I ever get to meet Maria Sharapova RB isn't coming! Maybe he'll learn his lesson then!

Coppa Italia Semi-Final: Catania-Roma 1-1

Not one of the best matches I've seen. We did what we had to do to qualify for the final which will be held in Rome on 24 May. At last they have decided to hold a one-leg final which makes so much more sense!

Great to see Aquilani back in the team and playing well (he scored the penalty). Although he didn't look very happy which is a bit worrying. I have a bad feeling he may leave Roma soon. Its seems that contract negotiations aren't going very well. Antunes also impressed. I think he will be sent off to play with another Serie A team next year to get experience and I think he could be key player for us in the future. Esposito missed an easy easy shot on goal. He hasn't impressed at all this year and I doubt he will be with us next season. I for one will be sad to see him go as he is Napoletano and I like to have at least one in the team! Boriello wouldn't be a bad replacement. Great on the pitch and not so bad on the eye either!! No doubt with out luck of money we will end up with some unknown pippa that will spend the season on the bench before leaving again!

The ATP Tour hits Roma

Inter lost the derby 2-1 and Roma beat Samp 3-0 so in theory the scudetto isn't over yet. Although it will take a miracle for us to win the title. I don't see Siena or Parma beating Inter unfortunately. I spent Sunday afternoon switching between the two matches. The last 15 minutes of the Inter match were so painful. I was convinced they would score. At least this keeps Mancini quiet for another week.


The parents have been in town so I'm now stocked up on all the yummie food I cant get here. They brought over half of the Marks and Spencers Food court with them! Great!


Yesterday we went to the International Men's Tennis. I have to say that I prefer this to Wimbledon. There are less people and you can walk around freely and you are so much closer to the courts and players. This year they have done up the grounds and I have to say I was very impressed. I'm looking forward to the new stadium which should be complete for the tournament in 2010. Obviously not everything ran so smoothly....I would worry if it did! It seems the seat numbers on your tickets aren't actually the right numbers!! We were given different numbers when we entered the stadium which caused much confusion!!


One of the highlights of the day was seeing il Capitano watching Federer along with David Pizarro. See my paparazzi shot below! He was hobbling along... hope to see him back on the pitch soon!


I also got to see Nadal practicing. He was looking good and I hope he retains the title. Also glad to see that Nicolas Lapentti hasn't lost any of his good looks!! Here are a couple of pics for the girls!