Tourists visiting Florence on a Sunday have a fair chance of witnessing hundreds of scooters whizzing their way noisily in the direction of the Artemio Franchi Stadium in the Campo di Marte area. A closer look will reveal that the prevalent colour worn by everyone in the procession is purple - T-shirts, scarves, caps.

It can mean only one thing - that Fiorentina, Florence's soccer team, is playing at home that day.
Fiorentina, in fact, have a purple strip - and indeed the team is often simply referred to as "la Viola" - with the red lily of Florence emblazoned on a white ground.

The story goes that the team ended up with purple jerseys quite by chance - a washerwoman did a shoddy job one day with the original red and white kit, which became stained with dye in a river and turned purplish. But the Florentines liked the result so much they decided to adopt the colour permanently.
The team also has its own anthem, known as "O Fiorentina". The most celebrated version is the one sung by Narciso Parigi in the 50s, and is still popular with fans today.

A brief history
Fiorentina has a glorious past, albeit with one or two dark moments in its history. Established in 1926 thanks to the Marchese Luigi Ridolfi, it played uninterruptedly, with the exception of just two seasons, in the ‘Serie A' league from 1932 to 2002. The club went bankrupt in 2002 and was immediately refounded as Florentia Viola, though it had to play in the C2 league. It was promoted to the ‘Serie B' in 2002-2003 for sporting merits as ACF Fiorentina, and has been back in Serie A since 2004-05. The club has won two championships, 6 Coppe Italia and a Supercoppa Italiana. Fiorentina was also the first Italian side to reach the final of Europe's most prestigious championship, the Champion's League (in 1956-57) and the first club to win the Cup Winner's Cup (1960-61). What's more, it is one of 13 European teams to have reached the finals of all three of UEFA's main cup competitions.


Famous names in the club's history include the coach Fulvio Bernardini, who won the league in 1955-56 with players like the Italian-Argentine striker Montuori and the Brazilian ace Botelho (known as ‘Julinho'); Bruno Pesaola, who secured the club's second league championship in 1968-69, coaching a team with Chiarugi, De Sisti and Superchi. In 1975, the side, coached by Rocco, won the Coppa Italia. In the 80s, when the club was owned by Pontello, the whole team revolved around Antognoni. In the 1981-82 championship, when De Sisti was coach, there was an exciting neck-to-neck race with Juventus, which ended with a hotly disputed second place for Fiorentina. Hence the saying coined by the fans, "Meglio secondo che ladri", which translates literally as "Better second than thieves". The club's historic rivalry with Juventus (whose players and supporters are known to the Florentines as "gobbi") became even more marked as a result.

1990 was the year of the World Cup in Italy, while in Florence it was the year of the revolt of Fiorentina fans against the Pontello family, when they announced that the great Roberto Baggio would be sold to... Juventus! The ownership of the club changed hands, from the hotly disputed Pontellos to the film producer Mario Cecchi Gori and then his son Vittorio. The 1994-95 season was the year of Gabriel Batistuta, who was the championship's top striker, helping the club to an excellent third place. It was also the year in which Fiorentina, coached by Ranieri, won the Coppa Italia. The 1996-97 season started with the Supercoppa Italiana, with Batistuta captain again. Ranieri was followed by Malesani and, in 1997-98, the club's most acclaimed new signing was the Brazilian Edmundo, nicknamed O'Animal.



Malesani was followed by a fiery Giovanni Trapattoni, already famous in Germany for his memorable press conferences in German when he was the coach at Bayern ("Es gibt BlaBla hinter Rücken"). Under his command the "Viola" took part in the Champions League of 1999-2000.
After going bankrupt and being relegated in C2, the club, renamed Florentia Viola, was taken over by businessman Diego Della Valle. Serie A player Angelo Di Livio decided to stay on with the club as captain. In 2003 the club reacquired its old name, becoming ACF Fiorentina S.p.A., and in the 2004-05 season played once again in Serie A thanks to the excellent results achieved by the coach Mondonico.


In 2005 the team was coached by Cesare Prandelli, the league's top goal-scorer was Luca Toni and the team finished up in an excellent 4th place. But the club's misadventures were not over. Fiorentina got embroiled in ‘Calciopoli': the club's owners were charged with illicit sporting practices and the team started the following season with a 30-point penalty. However, the 2006-07 season marked the club's comeback, with the arrival of further big names like Adrian Mutu and the definitive signing of Frey and Montolivo. The club came sixth, securing a place in the next season's UEFA Cup, reaching the semi-finals. In the 2007-08 season, Fiorentina came in fourth after Inter, Roma and Juventus, thereby qualifying for the preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League.

During the summer 2010 Cesare Prandelli left Fiorentina for the prestigious role of coach of the National football team.

The new coach is Delio Rossi.

Getting to the ground: The Artemio Franchi Stadium is in Viale Manfredo Fanti, in the north-east of Florence, about a 15-minute bus ride from the centre. Number 7, 17 and 20 buses run to the ground from Piazza Stazione or Piazza San Marco, and services are stepped up on match days. For bus times and routes, click here.
The nearest station for anyone arriving by train is Firenze Campo di Marte (400 metres away from the Stadium: cross the pedestrian overpass direction via Campo d'Arrigo (see n. 1 on the map)- not for people with motor disabilities). From Firenze Santa Maria Novella station take a train that stops at Campo di Marte or catch a number 7 or 17 bus.