FIORENTINA

THE LILAC LILIES

Florence is a city of great historic and cultural significance, reaching way back through the centuries. Long ago it was the capital of Italy and was also the seat of the Renaissance. The poet Dante and the artists Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Donatello all worked here. In a different sphere and perhaps never quite at this level, Florence has also played a significant role in the history of Italian football.

In the 15th century, the city was the birthplace of il calcio Fiorentino (also known as calcio storico), a late-medieval version of football. The popularity of this historic game was a prerequisite for the smooth introduction by some Englishmen at the end of the 19th century of the sort of football we know today. The sport quickly became popular, though it wasn’t until 1926 that Fiorentina was founded. The club chose to reference the history of the sport by taking as its own emblem the city crest, the fleur-de-lis (the French lily).

The fleur-de-lis has always been part of Fiorentina’s emblem, albeit in many different forms. The latest big change came in 2003; the club had gone bankrupt the year before and then re-formed as Florentia Viola. In 2003 the owner Diego Della Valle bought back the name Fiorentina and the old emblem. With that Fiorentina’s crest became the most expensive in the country: Della Valle had to pay £2.5 million.

CLUB: ACF Fiorentina

NICKNAME: Viola & Gigliati (the Lilies)

FOUNDED: 1926

STADIUM: Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence (47,282 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Gabriel Batistuta, Kurt Hamrin, Giancarlo Antognoni, Angelo Di Livio and Luca Toni

This is the city crest that the club once used. The fleur-de-lis has long been a symbol for Florence. Of course, it isn’t really a lily at all. The origin is the iris, which was initially presented as white against a red background. In the 13th century, the colours were inverted and since then the flower has been strongly linked to Florence as the city crest.

1980–1992. In 1980, after several variations on the original emblem, the then owner Flavio Pontello decided to modernise the crest by combining the fleur-de-lis with the letter F. The new emblem met with criticism from fans, who were not pleased that the badge looked like a halberd. In spite of the criticism, this remained Fiorentina’s emblem for 12 seasons.

2003–present. This is Italy’s most expensive emblem, the one for which Diego Della Valle paid £2.5 million to buy back the club’s name, Fiorentina, following bankruptcy. This emblem was actually introduced in 1992 by the earlier owners, the Cecchi Gori family, but with yellow contours and a more rounded fleur-de-lis.

Fiorentina legend Gabriel Batistuta scored 168 goals in 269 games while wearing the fleur-de-lis club crest. He also won the Capocannoniere (Serie A top goalscorer award) in 1994/95 season, scoring 26 goals, playing for Fiorentina.