Today was a day I had been looking forward to ever since I read about the Calcio Storico in the first week I was in Florence. If there is one word to describe this sport, it would be adrenaline.
The tournament is played in Piazza Santa Croce, where for two weeks in June, the smooth stone gives way to a huge sand pit and grandstands and civic pride is played out through the four teams that represent Florence's oldest quarters: the Whites from Santo Spirito, the Greens from San Giovanni, the Reds from Santa Maria Novella and the Blues from Santa Croce.
As our apartment was situated in the Santa Croce district, it was logical that they would be our team and this worked out well because they made it to the final which was against the Whites from Santo Spirito.
The pre-game festivities were due to start at 5pm, but we got there at around 3pm to ensure a decent seat. Luckily our seats were at the end where all the Santa Croce (Azzurri) fans were sitting, which made the atmosphere electric.
The game is preceded by an hour long procession of 400 or so men, women and horses all decked out in the city's colours, whilst the crowd chants and sings in readiness for the teams to arrive.
A loud bang sounds which signals the entrance of the teams balls, followed by the teams themselves.
As the Blue team arrives at our end, the crowd goes wild, with the main chant being "pica Azzurri, pica Azzurri, eyy eye" which means "fight Blues, fight Blues".
However, when the White team arrives at our end, theres plenty of booing and some hardcore death stares coming from the players. These players are said to be mainly made up of current and ex nightclub bouncers and are all heavily covered in tattoo's and seriously well built.
We really had no idea what we were in for. We had been told it was a mix of rugby, soccer, American football, boxing, martial arts, greco roman wrestling and even ice hockey. Rules don't apply!
The field is 100m long by 50m wide and the game is played for 50 minutes and the teams of 27 men a side (all on the field at once!) swap ends each time a goal is scored.
The whistle blows and the ball is thrown up into the air. Amazingly no one actually goes for the ball, instead going straight for an opposition player to try and weaken them by any means possible. It was like nothing I had ever seen; punching, kicking, tackling, you name it, it was happening.
After about 5 minutes, the Blue team got the ball and tried to pick their way down the field to the end goal, but to no avail. It felt like a chaotic rugby match in which kicks to the head and random tackling of players nowhere near the ball had replaced the familiar scrum.
The goals were as big as the width of the pitch, so you would think there would be plenty of scores, but it was a hard-fought road getting there.
In the end, the White team from Santo Spirito proved too strong and too quick and with a number of Blue players injured, they ran away easy 4-0 victors.
The fans from the White side were going crazy, whilst the fans from the Blue side were yelling profanities, throwing bottles onto the pitch and just generally behaving badly, it sure was a sight!
Although the match was over, the day wasn't. That night was the celebration of Florence's Saint Patron Giovanni Battista and there was an amazing fireworks display up on Piazzale Michelangelo.
We made the smart decision to watch them from Ponte Santa Trinita which meant we could see the Ponte Vecchio and behind it the beautiful fireworks reflecting in the Arno River.
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