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Articles by Stefano Ursolini

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About Stefano Ursolini

The son of a leading Florentine art dealer, Stefano initially worked in the Uffizi Gallery. He went into journalism and soon became a popular stringer writing on Tuscan wines, art and football. Stefano lives with his partner Umberto in the Santa Croce quarter of Florence. A dedicated supporter of AC Fiorentina his elegant articles on the Viola as well as the Serie A have earned him an appreciative global audience. More Posts

The final : an Italian view

There  has always been a respect from Italians for f English football.  The word mister is often used to describe the Italian manager , the Juventus jersey of black and white stripes came from England ‘s oldest football club Notts. County and clubs Milan and Genoa have British not Italian [...]

July 9, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Euros: from an Italian perspective

It’s not just in The Rust that Italy are regarded as team of the tournament. The team, without a big name, have discovered the right mix under Robert Mancini and are unbeaten in 31 games. Last night’s performance against Austria (2-1 after extra time) was more – as you say – [...]

June 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Ciao from Florence

We had a more severe lockdown than you maybe because we Italians are not too good at respecting the law! Messaging  my friends and colleagues on the National Rust, I understand  that at every level English lockdown is a matter of interpretation, usually in favour of the person deciding. As with [...]

May 31, 2020 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina file: Fiorentina 0 Genoa 0

The high hopes of new owner US media billionaire Rocco Commisso are dissipating. We are still mid-table and the only real evidence of  his financial backing is we still have Federico  Chiesa. Over the last few years there  has been a revolving door of talented players from Florence like Alonso [...]

January 26, 2020 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina file: Milan 1 Fiorentina 3

I see it as my role to report on my beloved Viola but I appreciate many readers prefer a more general update on Serie A. So I will begin by saying this is the worst Milan side I have ever seen. In the Berlusconi era, Milan fielded Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten, Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni, Shevchenko [...]

September 30, 2019 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina 0 Juventus 0

Like OGC Nice we have a new billionaire owner one Rocco Commisso who made his fortune (7 billion Euros estimate) in American media and TV. He is not of Florence but wanted to acquire a Serie A team. When you have a rich owner you cannot just complete in the market but also offer sufficient solid [...]

September 15, 2019 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina File

Conscious that not every one in the UK who reads the Rust is as interested in Fiorentina as myself I do try to find a British angle. Over the last few years the Viola have acquired successfully from Premiership clubs – Alonso, Salah, Borja Valero, Kataniklic, Claudio Sanchez, Pizarro. Last [...]

February 26, 2019 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina File: Fiorentina 0 Juventus 3

For us Viola fans this was the big one. We have always thought that a penalty denied to us at Cagliari and one awarded to Juventus at Catanzaro presented them with the 1981 Scudetto: we hated the sale of Roberto Baggio to them and more recently the young talent Federico Bernardeschi. Sadly for the [...]

December 2, 2018 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina File: Sampdoria 1 Fiorentina 1

It’s tough for the Fiorentinas of this world. We have tradition, in the late fifties we finshed first or runners up 5 seasons running and were the first Italian club to reach a European final against the mighty Real Madrid and the first to win one, the old European Cup Winners Cup v Glasgow [...]

September 20, 2018 // 0 Comments

Fiorentina file: Udinese 0 Fiorentina 2

Alan Tanner’s Fulham is not the only Rust team to enjoy a winning run. Fiorentina have gone 7 games without defeat and won the last 5. The remarkable thing is that this has been achieved since March 13th when our captain and heartbeat Davide Astori ‘s own heart ceased to function on [...]

April 5, 2018 // 0 Comments

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