article by Nicholas Pucci
When it comes to volleyball, in Florence, the memory refers to the glories of the legendary male sextet of Ruiniwho at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s knew how to assert himself to the point of putting five Italian champion titles on his bulletin board between 1964 and 1973. And if today, that a lot of water has passed under the bridges, the Florentine coat of arms is reinvigorated by the two female realities of Savino Del Bene Scandicciwhich in the last two years has brought two European trophies (Challenge Cup in 2002 and Cev Cup in 2023), and of Il Bisonte Firenzeperhaps it should be remembered that in the mid-nineties, precisely on 1997, it was Romanelli Firenze’s turn to reach the first, historic goal for a women’s volleyball team in the Tuscan capital. Caressing a European dream shattered at its best.
1996, therefore, when the Romanelli Financewhich, as the company name suggests, deals with cash loans, forcefully enters the world of tricolor volleyballbecause it is a sport that fascinates those of the company, in fact, who are the president, i.e. Massimo Romanelli. This is how the volleyball section was born, acquiring the sporting title from Tradeco Altamura, an Apulian team that renounces the championship and also the participation in the Cev Cupfor which she had earned the right on the field by finishing fourth in the previous Serie A1 season, and if the landing in the top national tournament and international competition for Romanelli is the logical consequence of when established at the table, here is that the new coach, the Bulgarian Stojan Gountchev, called to perform at the Palazzetto di Via Paoli, is entrusted with a handful of players who combine experience and youthful exuberance.
Spiker Mila Kjossevathe 33-year-old Bulgarian who boasts 520 (!!!) caps for the national team, is the star of the new formation, arriving fromAlpam Rome Volleyball, and next to her perform the Dutch Cintha Boersmapowerful Dutch spiker coming from the Tradeco Altamura, the blue Claudia Pirani and Anna Maria Solazziwhich covers the role of universal, in turn purchased by theAlpame Francesca VanniniFlorentine setter from Ancona, as well as the Argentinian Romano Maria Del Rosario20-year-old central naturalized Italian. The staff is also completed by Alessandra Viola, Marvi Cipollaro, Valentina Bardi and Paola Capuano, flanked by the very talented Donatella Ricci and Ingrid De Grandisone middle class born in 1977 and the other spiker from 1976, who already gravitate to the ranks of Italy’s national youth teams.
The 1996/1997 season therefore marks the debut of Romanelli Firenze in the panorama of Italian and international volleyball, and if the championship rewards the Tuscans with a brilliant sixth place in the standings with a record of 12 wins and 10 defeats, which is worth accessing the play-offs where Gountchev’s sextet battles Reggio Emila on equal termsthird in the regular-season, losing only in the third match, in the Coppa Italia the Florentines do even betterliquidating Bari in the round of 16 and Gierre Roma (curious, she also bought the sports title from Alpam Roma Volleyball for the current year) in the quarterfinals, qualifying for the final four scheduled for 21 and 22 March in Reggio Calabria. Here Romanelli gives up clearly, 0-3 with partials of 15-6 15-6 15-10, in Modena (which will then lose the title match against Bergamo, exactly the same outcome as the play-off final for the Scudetto ), then beat Rome again in the final for 3rd and 4th place, 3-2, thus climbing on the lowest step of the podium. Be careful, we will talk about Gierre Roma and Romanelli Firenze shortly when we deal with the Cev Cup.
Effectively, Romanelli’s European path is one to make one lick your mustache. 40 teams are registered for the 17th edition of the Cev Cup, the third most important European competition after, of course, the Champions Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup, and if Florence is in contention to do well, just as Gierre Roma hopes to go a long way, in turn included in the lot of participants, called to take up the inheritance of the Germans of Sportclub Münsterholder of the trophy won at the expense of the Turkish side of Emlakbank Ankara.
We start with a first group stage, and if Romanelli easily wins her grouping by putting in three victories in three matches (3-1 in Romania against Penicilina Iasi, 3-0 in Portugal against Vilacondense which is also inflicted a merciless 15-1 in the third set, and 3-0 in Florence against the Croatian side Pula), Gierre is already admitted by right to the direct elimination draw. Dove, at the round of 16 level, Florence has the better of the French Racing Club Villebon (3-0 at home and 3-2 away) and Rome gets rid of the dangerous Greek Panathinaikosbeaten 3-2 in Athens and annihilated 3-0 in the capital.
In the quarter-finals, the task of the two Italian teams is decidedly more demanding, with Romanelli forced to concede 3-2 away to the Germans of Schweriner Sportclubwith partials of 15-11 12-15 12-15 15-12 15-13 which say a lot about the balance of forces on the field, but then strong enough to overturn the result at the Palazzetto di Via Paoli, an unequivocal 3-0 that sends Gountchev’s girls to the final four for the trophy. And again Rome’s task was more difficult, as they lost 3-1 in the first leg match against the Turkish side Vakifbank Istabul, to then become the protagonist of a truly impeccable return match, 3-0 with partials of 15-4 15-9 15-12 causing that two Italian teams will compete for the cup. Together with the other two qualifiers, the French from Calais and the Turkish from Galatasaray.
The appointment is for February 28 and March 1, 1997al Palazzetto dello Sport in Viale Tizianoin Rome, e that it will be an entirely tricolor issue is certified by the double (and clear) success in the semifinals of Romanelli and Gierre, 3-0 for both who really leave no way out for their opponents, conceding the meager 18 and 23 points respectively, thus going to face each other for the title. And here the story gets really interesting, because if it is true that Florence puts its head forward by winning the first two sets, 17-15 15-9, Rome, which already won the Cev Cup in 1993 by beating the Turkish team of Eczacıbaşı in the final, has the strength and experience to recover, 15-10 15- 8, postponing the decision to the fifth and decisive set. And here the hands of the Romans, drawn by the class of Elaine Youngs, Barbara De Luca and Ana Paula De Tassis and accompanied by the support of the public friend, do not tremble, it ends 15-11 after more than two hours of play and the European dream of Romanelli Firenze is shattered. One step away from becoming reality.
Ah, do you want to know the latest one? The coach of that Gierre Roma was a certain Massimo Barbolini, the very coach who guided Savino Del Bene Scandicci on the bench to success in the 2023 Cev Cup. When irony of fate is said…