Sports (Florence)

Florence's famous football in Renaissance guise...

NO! They are not "doing it for the tourists"!

‍

In Florence, “Going to the Indian” is more than a very long walk. It is an existential journey leaving the known world behind.

In 1870, the young Maharajah of Kohlapoor died in the Tuscan capital and a lavish monument was erected at the site of his cremation at the farthest limit of the city’s largest park.

Then Florentine culture and custom kicked in…

***

For centuries, the Cascine functioned as both a working farm and a princely hunting preserve.

Then in the course of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, modern athletic pursuits developed in that increasingly public park—making it ground zero for almost everything that is played in Florence today.

We cross the vast expanse of the Cascine, tracking half-forgotten pastimes like pallamaglio (a precursor of croquet and golf), pallone al bracciale and tamburello (cousins of handball and racquetball). Then comes soccer, tennis, horse racing and polo.

“Going to the Indian” means "trekking to the edge of the earth". But as we approach the Maharajah’s monument on the far side of the Cascine, another adage comes to mind,

“Go throw myself off the Indian” refers to the “Viaduct of the Indian”, an ill-omened highway overpass right nearby.

This potent magnet for local suicides has a dire history of its own.