Born in Florence in 1377, Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the founding fathers of the Renaissance movement. A pioneer who is revered across the globe, the architect is most famous for building the dome in the city’s world-famous Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in the heart of the Tuscan tourist hotspot.
It only takes a walk down from the 14th century Palazzo Vecchio to the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, to see why the natives there feel such pride in those home-grown talents. Dante Alighieri, Galileo Galilei and Leonardo Da Vinci are just a few of the Statues of the Great Florentines that line this walkway alongside the Uffizi gallery, all responsible for changing the world in their given area of expertise.
Now that foreign tourists swamp their city, modern day Florentines retain their football team as an outlet for expressing their pride in this unique place to live and – just like the aforementioned statues – they seemed to have found an incredible Tuscan-born talent to represent them.
With the same initials and a similar sounding name to the famous dome builder, Fiorentina forward Federico Bernardeschi has earned the nickname of “Brunelleschi,” the local boy starting out life in the Viola youth ranks at the age of six.
Possessing obvious talent, the youngster earned his professional debut under Vincenzo Montella back in 2013, and subsequently spent a year on loan at Crotone. He returned looking ready, and made his Serie A debut in September 2014, only for an unfortunate ankle break just two months later to keep him out until May of that same campaign.
Having grown up in the side, the youngster would have undoubtedly been aware of the likes of Roberto Baggio and Giancarlo Antognoni who had worn the cherished number ten, and at the beginning of 2015-16, Bernardeschi made the decision to pull on that very same shirt himself.
“It was a bit of a special choice, but I've been Viola for many years and I wanted to try wearing that number,” the winger told La Nazione. “I want to bear it with honour, without presumption. Having the number 10 on my back is a source of pride. I feel many eyes pointed on me, it's a feeling that gives me great incentives. For a young player like me, being appreciated is very important.”
It was after that decision that the newly-appointed number ten began to kick on and – after Coach Paulo Sousa finally stopped persevering with trying to play him at wing-back – Bernardeschi really began to shine. “I do have the thought in my head that I can finish my career in the Fiorentina shirt,” Bernardeschi told La Repubblica back in November. “We’ll see how things go over the next few years.”
But two goals and four assists in 2015/16 quickly turned into a tally of 11 goals and four assists last term – including a wonder-strike in the Europa League against Borussia Monchengladbach – and it became increasingly apparent that the Viola would struggle to hang on to their prodigy.
Acceptance of this fact from the fans was hard as it was, but then it became evident that he was about to sign for most hated rivals Juventus. La Gazzetta dello Sport managed to track the player down whilst on holiday and he spoke to the newspaper, the interview unauthorised by Fiorentina. “It’s now with my agent and the club,” he said. “I won’t interfere, but I repeat, I’m calm and I’m in no hurry. Still, who wouldn’t like to play for Juventus?” The Viola supporters had had enough.
A banner appeared on Monday morning outside the Stadio Artemio Franchi with a harsh statement towards the man who could have become one of the all-time greats at the club. “Who wouldn’t want to spit in your face...Bernardeschi you s***y hunchback,” it read. The phrase “Gobbo di Merda” is hard to convey into English, the term directed at Juventus fans originating in those who worked long hours in Turin at the Fiat factory becoming hunchbacked.
Although shocking, this banner was quite mild in comparison to what happened back in 1990 when Bernardeschi’s predecessor in the number ten role – Roberto Baggio – made his transfer to the Bianconeri. Enraged at the decision to sell the player to their direct rivals, fans took to the streets, the violent displays resulting in nine injuries and fifty arrests.
Whilst these scenes are unlikely to be repeated, Federico Bernardeschi needs to hope that he has strong shoulders to cope with the backlash that is about to come his way once the move to Turin has been made official.
For just like the architect Brunelleschi and all the other eminent Florentines, this home-grown player could have gone down in the history of the city forever. He wouldn’t have been blamed for moving on. But a local boy joining Juventus – equipped with the knowledge of all that means to his fellow Tuscans – is simply unforgivable to them.
