UDINE. Italy is champion of Europe. At 11.53 pm, at the end of the final against England that the Azzurri won on penalties, the joy of the fans exploded in Udine as well.
And the carousels that went through the city until late at night began. In a riot of tricolor flags, of choruses at the top of their lungs, of horns that marked a success that perhaps few, at the beginning of the tournament, expected.
The patrons of the Ai Vecchi Parrocchiani restaurant did their best to recreate at least some of the atmosphere that reigned in Wembley in via Aquileia.
And then, red and white smoke bombs to color the warm air of a sparkling Udine evening, hand on the chest and hymn sung out loud.
A rite, that of the Canto degli Italiani scanned loudly, also repeated under the town hall, where many boys attended the match of Mancini’s boys thanks to the screens made available by the Contarena, which was awarded the ideal medal of ‘ center largest widewall gold.
The bars, as well as the restaurants, worked at full capacity, welcoming families, groups of friends, young and old, in many cases fully harnessed to attend the final act of the European competition.
Blue shirts, several. Tricolors painted on the cheeks of the little ones, too. And a generous arsenal of flags, naturally with the three colors that become very popular in conjunction with the great competitions that involve the Italian athletes.
The trepidation of the eve almost immediately left the field to anxiety about England’s lightning-goal: a full hour in apnea, before the goal – very celebrated – with which Bonucci brought things back to the waterline.
The Udine fans, in via Rialto, rejoice and hug each other. A few tens of meters and a handful later, in Piazza Duomo, they indulge in some gestures and some not-so-British chorus (by the way) when in full recovery Sterling drops himself in a blatant way, trying once again to deceive the ‘referee.