Hall of Fame Viola
In 2011, the Museo Fiorentina created the Hall of Fame Viola – the first of its type for an Italian football team – in full agreement with ACF Fiorentina.
The Hall of Fame Viola was created to celebrate the glories that have made up the history of Fiorentina. With this prestigious award, the Museo Fiorentina makes the deeds of the great protagonists of Fiorentina history indelible over time, their reputation built thanks to their commitment and their passion.
Each year a new edition is held with a ceremony in which new members are welcomed into the Hall of Fame Viola. We look back and, appreciating our glorious past, we take forward this example for an even better future.
The Museo Fiorentina and ACF Fiorentina wish to celebrate those men and women who have pulled on the purple shirt and worked hard for it. We want to show them and their families that they have not been forgotten and that they will be rewarded for their commitment and love towards our colors and the city of Florence.
With the Hall of Fame Viola, many young people who wear or represent the purple shirt with honour can see the example of those who came before them.
The winners receive the Marzocco Viola award, a statuette designed for the Museo Florentina by the artist Marco Cantini and made by the silversmith Federico Sassoli. The Hall of Fame Viola stands out from any other in the world to illustrate those who enter it not only with simple photos, but also with admirable portraits made by master Claudio Sacchi, star pupil of Pietro Annigoni.
The Hall of Fame Viola was created to honor the memory of those who preceded us, as we are convinced that remembering the protagonists of Fiorentina’s history is equivalent to telling the story of each one of us.
Behind every victory there are not only the champions who enjoy the limelight, but also many silent proponents who worked every day to build Fiorentina’s history. The Hall of Fame Viola also and above all wants to tell their stories and thank the many people who contributed to writing the pages of the wonderful history of La Viola.
The portraits of the Hall of Fame Viola are made by the maester Claudio SACCHI.
Hall of Fame Viola
In 2011, the Museo Fiorentina created the Hall of Fame Viola – the first of its type for an Italian football team – in full agreement with ACF Fiorentina.
The Hall of Fame Viola was created to celebrate the glories that have made up the history of Fiorentina. With this prestigious award, the Museo Fiorentina makes the deeds of the great protagonists of Fiorentina history indelible over time, their reputation built thanks to their commitment and their passion.
Each year a new edition is held with a ceremony in which new members are welcomed into the Hall of Fame Viola. We look back and, appreciating our glorious past, we take forward this example for an even better future.
The Museo Fiorentina and ACF Fiorentina wish to celebrate those men and women who have pulled on the purple shirt and worked hard for it. We want to show them and their families that they have not been forgotten and that they will be rewarded for their commitment and love towards our colors and the city of Florence.
With the Hall of Fame Viola, many young people who wear or represent the purple shirt with honour can see the example of those who came before them.
The winners receive the Marzocco Viola award, a statuette designed for the Museo Florentina by the artist Marco Cantini and made by the silversmith Federico Sassoli. The Hall of Fame Viola stands out from any other in the world to illustrate those who enter it not only with simple photos, but also with admirable portraits made by master Claudio Sacchi, star pupil of Pietro Annigoni.
The Hall of Fame Viola was created to honor the memory of those who preceded us, as we are convinced that remembering the protagonists of Fiorentina’s history is equivalent to telling the story of each one of us.
Behind every victory there are not only the champions who enjoy the limelight, but also many silent proponents who worked every day to build Fiorentina’s history. The Hall of Fame Viola also and above all wants to tell their stories and thank the many people who contributed to writing the pages of the wonderful history of La Viola.
The portraits of the Hall of Fame Viola are made by the maester Claudio SACCHI.
ALBERTAZZI GIORGIO
An actor of undisputed genius, considered a master of the national theater, he is also a director, playwright and poet. With a degree in architecture, after the War he invested his talent and passion in the art of acting and made his debut under the direction of Luchino Visconti in a performance of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Later, television, cinema and, above all, the theater elect him among the greatest Italian actors of all time. For Albertazzi, Fiorentina is a part of him, a special family member, a fixed point in his life, a faithful and irreplaceable companion of every Sunday.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2014
ALBERTOSI Enrico
When he arrived at Fiorentina at age 19, he found the door barred by Giuliano Sarti. He managed to play for the national team before becoming a starter in Florence. He was a complete goalkeeper, very acrobatic, with a great basic technique and a remarkable sense of position. Ten seasons, winning five Cups, made it almost impossible to think of another goalkeeper between our posts. Yet, at the age of thirty, he was sold to Cagliari, in the very season in which we won the Scudetto. He did win two, in Sardinia and in Milan, and was the goalkeeper of the National team, World Cup runners-up in 1970 in Mexico, but he has always remained in the hearts of the Viola fans.
Category “Players”
HoF 2018
ANTOGNONI Giancarlo
His is the first name to enter in the Fiorentina Hall of Fame. His proclamation took place on the feast dedicated to him at the Mandela Forum on March 4, 2011. The love story that binds Florence and Antognoni is inextinguishable. Beyond his infinite records in viola, it is enough to remember his farewell match to football in a sold-out Stadio Comunale as if it were a challenge with Juventus, the historical enemy. When he left the pitch for the last time, greeted by the last applause, Giancarlo Antognoni entered directly into the legend of Fiorentina and Italian football. In Viola from 1972 to 1987, Giancarlo holds the absolute record of appearances for a Fiorentina player in official matches (429), in Serie A (341), and in the national team (73). For everyone, he is the Fiorentina number ten par excellence, our Captain!
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
ARTUSI Luciano
He is an antique Florentine, like those who on February 17, 1530 played the famous football match in Piazza Santa Croce in mockery of the troops of Emperor Charles V who were besieging Florence. Historian and successful writer, he has been part of the Historical Parade of the Florentine Republic since 1951, for 64 years, and was its Director for 55 years. His vocal salute became a chant in the Curva Fiesole. All of Fiorentina’s most important victories enjoyed the celebrations organized by him through the union between the tradition of ancient Florentine football with English football, and Fiorentina’s Viola.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2015
ASTORI Davide
A footballer, “as a hobby”, as he liked to define himself, does not get to play 14 matches with the national team and to be the captain of his own team. For Davide, football was not a pastime, but a profession interpreted with the utmost seriousness and humanity. He was one of the truest and most positive players in football, shunning the excesses and sensationalism. His number 13 shirt will be that of the captain of Fiorentina forever.
Category “Players”
HoF 2018
BACCANI Alberto
In 1956 he was the protagonist, together with Galluzzi first and Scagliotti later, of the first FIGC Young Footballers Training Unit. When the Federation left the Nuclei to the clubs he was the founder and president of the Viola Young Footballers Center who kept the trained kids together. Only two years later, Fiorentina decided to absorb young players and coaches at no cost. Since then “the professor”, a great cartoonist, specialized in rehabilitating injured footballers from Gonfiantini to Chiarugi, from Brizi to Desolati, from Amarildo to Antognoni up to his masterpiece: Roberto Baggio. We welcome Professor Alberto Baccani’s entry into the Hall of Fame.
Category “Managers”
HoF 2023
BACCANI Ottavio
In Ridolfi’s Fiorentina he was a player, manager, secretary, director, and, when needed, a coach. He was the organizational cornerstone of the decision to grow the players from within the club, and he was the theorist of the choice of the “WM”, the “system” that led to the victory of the 1940 Coppa Italia. During the war and the German invasion, he saved the Viola heritage and, immediately after the Liberation, he was the protagonist of the rebirth, along with Paganelli and Banchieri. After his work ended, he remained a partner of Fiorentina and was the first director and secretary of the Federal Technical Center of Coverciano – from 1958 to 1968, when he had to surrender to illness.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2018
BAGLINI Nello
The President, who created the second Fiorentina masterpiece, made pragmatism and prudence his winning weapon. He has always been a Viola fan, and in six years as the head of the club, he won a Coppa Italia, a Mitropa Cup, and a Scudetto that no one would ever have predicted. His idea of starting from the roots to make them grow, mature and bloom was the recipe for an unexpected and well-deserved success. Fiorentina ye-ye was his masterpiece. Alongside the tricolor of Enrico Befani, there is the magnificent one of Nello Baglini.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2014
BANDINI Italo
Known as “Aldo”, a Florentine in Fiorentina. In addition to being an excellent player in the pioneering Fiorentina, between 1926 and 1930, he represents the first great biographer of our club. His precious and precise annotations on the back of many beautiful images of the mid-twenties, have allowed the Museo Fiorentina to unravel many mysteries and uncover many truths. Our eternal thanks go to him for his activity as a footballer and for his passionate reporting.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
BATISTUTA Gabriel Omar
One of the biggest Viola stars ever to come from Argentina and, in nine years, he became the greatest striker in the world. Everyone wanted him, but only we had him, every Sunday in front of our own eyes. Always growling at the ball and always running towards the flag to machine-gun the opponents. His numbers with Fiorentina are impressive: 207 goals in 333 matches. But even more impressive was, for those lucky enough to witness him in his playing days, the determination with which he sought the goal and every Sunday he found it. The instigator of the Viola in the victories of the Coppa Italia and the Italian Supercoppa 1996. Make way for the roar of the Lion King.
Category “Players”
HoF 2014
BEATRICE Bruno
A life as a midfielder.
You ran up and down the pitch to take the ball away from your opponents and intercept their passes.
Having arrived at Fiorentina in the summer of 1973, you were the right man to help the team grow, the “Mastino” it needed.
Up and down non-stop, every day, without respite, until groin pain stopped you.
For some, a footballer should never stop, like a machine, he must be squeezed and put back on the field immediately, his health is not important…
Bruno is “treated” with a therapy based on Roentgen rays, to accelerate his competitive recovery.
An enormous quantity of rays, repeated with a frequency and intensity too high to be tolerated.
The player is put back on the pitch, but the man’s health is terribly compromised.
Beatrice will continue to play for a few years but her fate is sealed.
Bruno died on 16 December 1987, at just 39 years old, from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, leaving his wife Gabriella and two young children Alessandro and Claudia.
Bruno Beatrice, winner of the 1975 Italian Cup and the Italian-English League Cup with Fiorentina, is still, together with his entire family, waiting for the most important success: JUSTICE!
We welcome Bruno BEATRICE’s entry into the Viola Hall of Fame, Players Category!
Category “Players”
HoF 2024
BEFANI Enrico
He is the President of the victories. He transformed Fiorentina from an artisan football club to a club organized at the most avantgarde levels. After the conquest of the Coppa Italia by the Marquis Ridolfi, Befani brought to Florence, in his nine years of presidency, a Scudetto, a Grasshoppers Cup, and, while handing over to Longinotti, a Cup-Winners’ Cup, a Coppa Italia and plenty of quality football. The great Fiorentina of the 1950s owed trophies and a period of unprecedented technical superiority to its magnificent President. The trophy cabinet of those years is only missing a Champions Cup which would have further and deservedly rewarded him.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2013
BERNARDINI Fulvio
Victorious coach of the first Scudetto in 1955-56 and of the Grasshoppers Cup in 1957. A great expert and theorist of football, the “Doctor” knew how to build and lead that magnificent team that reminded Italian sportsmen of the “Grande Torino” and came close to the incredible feat of finishing a championship without defeat. Loved by the fans, under his wise leadership Fiorentina also reached the final of the Champions Cup in 1957.
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2012
BERTONI Daniel Ricardo
The “Puntero” of Bahia Blanca arrived in 1980 and, in Florence, to this day his name still brings back great emotions. He came from Seville, after Argentina’s 1978 World Cup victory, scoring in the final. So many shots, so much class! His skills set off the unmistakable chorus: “Praise to you, Daniel Bertoni” … Loved by the Ultras, he returned to them, after the clashes with the Roman fans, the solidarity he had received in hard times. A football artist, one to whom Maradona himself left the free kick taking. He who won the title of Champion in the heart of the Florentines.
Category “Players”
HoF 2018
BIAGINI Stefano
A strong and robust boy from Prato with a big heart that beats for Fiorentina. Founder and soul of the first Viola Ultras, he is a charismatic leader known by all as “Pompa”. He was able to give an identity to the Curva Fiesole by teaching young people the importance of wearing purple colors with their heads held high in every part of the world, with pride and courage. It is thanks to him that the Curva Fiesole became the beating heart of the Viola support.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2012
BONI Luigi
Born a year after Fiorentina because, he says, we had to wait for her. He grew up walking through Borgo Pinti to go to the stadium. After the war, the trips on coaches and cars of the time, journeys that became adventures, just to follow the team. The adventure then becomes joining the Fiorentina Council, the first of the Baglini management, to “settle the debts and fight for the Scudetto” and start the organization of the Viola Clubs. When the Viola Clubs Coordination Center Association was born in 1974, Gigi was its first president and remained so until 1986, when he resigned to defend the dignity of the Association.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2018
BORGONOVO Stefano
The boy who drove the opposing defenses crazy together with Roberto Baggio at the turn of the eighties and nineties, has given way to an extraordinary man who has publicly faced his unspeakable suffering for the salvation and hope of many unfortunates. We will always remember him harpooning a ball into the box and seizing life in a wheelchair. The same smile, the same strength, the same heart. Stefano Borgonovo’s iron will is the best any of us could receive as a gift.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
BRIZI Giuseppe
An example of loyalty and attachment to the purple jersey for fifteen years, from 1961 to 1976. He is one of the protagonists of the Fiorentina ye-ye that wins the second historic national title. An always elegant and never foul player, he was very skilled in relaunching a match. In Florence he won a Scudetto in 1968-69, the Coppa Italia twice (1966 and 1975), the Mitropa Cup in 1966 and an Anglo Italian Cup in 1976. An example for the youngest, an exemplary professional.
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
CARPANESI Sergio
Growing up in the team managed by his father, he had established himself as one of the best players of his generation. At the age of seventeen, all the observers of national football were emphasising his great talents. Fiorentina managed to secure him, snatching him away from stiff competition. After two years with the boys, the big leap, with his participation in the Abbadia San Salvatore retreat, the appreciation of Bernardini, the convocations in that team that did wonders, and the starting jersey with a goal in Ferrara: a long breakaway that began on Julinho’s feed and ended in the net with a strong angled shot.
He was the youngest player in the Fiorentina team that won Italy for the first time in 1955-56.
A national player in the youth and military teams, he also won, with the purple jersey, the 1952-57 Grasshoppers Cup and the 1959 Italian-French Friendship Cup.
An affair marked by mistakes on the football market took him far from Florence, where he later returned to live, but he still managed to win and convince.
He was a great player and an excellent coach; he is a polite and exquisite person who knows how to explain football.
In the purple jersey from 1955 to 1959 with 34 appearances and 1 goal.
Category “Players”
HoF 2022
CASTELLETTI Sergio
A great full-back, a protagonist of national football. Arriving in Florence at the age of twenty-one he chose the city and the football team, so much so that he cried at the time of his sale. Together with Robotti, he formed a full-back pairing which took up the legacy of Magnini and Cervato, in both the purple jersey and that of the national team. Sergio’s, with Fiorentina, is a palmarès of the highest value: a Cup-Winners’ Cup, a Mitropa Cup, two Coppa Italias, two hundred and sixty-two official appearances in Viola and seven with Italy. His love affair with Fiorentina continued by coaching the young players.
Category “Players”
HoF 2019
CERVATO Sergio
He was only nineteen when he arrived at Fiorentina. By the time he left us, he was thirty and was captain of the team. For our trophy cabinet he contributed to a Scudetto, a Grasshoppers Cup and the title of Vice-Champions of Champions Cup. 340 official matches, and over thirty goals, with the purple jersey, 25 appearances and 3 goals in the senior national team, of which he was also captain, make him a pillar of the Viola and national football history. The same ease with which he kicked the ball as a player, he used in teaching football and life to the boys of the Viola youth teams. Honour to the natural heir of the Grande Torino full-back Virgilio Maroso.
Category “Players”
HoF 2015
CHIAPPELLA Giuseppe
For eighteen years, without interruption, in Fiorentina: first as a player, then as coach. He made a decisive contribution to winning the first historic Scudetto in 1956 and is one of the cornerstones of the purple defensive wall that plays in the national team. A fighter, on the field, always attentive to his task and in supporting and guiding his teammates. As an assistant manager, he won both the Cup-Winners’ Cup and the Coppa Italia in 1961. As a coach he won the Coppa Italia and the Mitropa Cup in 1966, the year in which he was awarded the “Seminatore d’Oro”; he has the great merit of shaping the Fiorentina ye-ye who will win the second Scudetto in 1969. He returns to the Viola bench in February 1978 and leads the team to safety.
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
CHIARUGI Luciano
He represents every child’s dream that becomes reality: a childhood spent just thinking about the ball, all the youth teams of his club, on Sundays as a ball boy during the games of the senior side, with the dream, one day, of being there. Thanks to his tenacity and talent, that day arrives. And there are also many goals anticipated by many dribbles that drove the opposing defenders and us fans crazy. And a Scudetto also arrives. And the bench of that team also arrives: first the youth team and then, in difficult moments, the first. If Fiorentina calls, Luciano is always there. For this we love him.
Category “Players”
HoF 2015
CHIESA Enrico
He arrived in Florence already affirmed. After some initial difficulties, he conquered everyone with goals, with an extraordinary repertoire, which exalted and was celebrated by the public, accompanied by his best quality: the speed of execution. 45 goals in 86 games, between league and cups. It was the last big signing of Vittorio Cecchi Gori, protagonist of the Viola success in the 2001 Coppa Italia. A few months later, his serious injury took away the last weapon from Fiorentina to avoid the chasm that was opening up.
Category “Players”
HoF 2017
CIUFFI Mario
Who did not love Mario Ciuffi? That intrusive irony which accompanied every manifestation of his as a fan, represented in every way the polemical and perennially dissatisfied Florentine spirit with how things are going. Florentine to the core and Viola fan in every corner of his heart, he has pleasantly accompanied the pre and post-game in a unique and unrepeatable way. It was impossible not to love him: he managed to bring a smile even after a burning defeat. His cheerful passion has accompanied us for many years, his memory will accompany us forever.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2013
CONTRATTO Renzo
Sweat, fatigue and dedication were his daily bread: if there was a dangerous opponent to be checked on sight, all the coaches who passed the Viola in his eight years always knew who to entrust him to. Under the grit and the skills of Renzo Contratto all the greatest of his time have passed: Maradona, Zico, Platini have discovered on their skin that in football one emerges thanks not only to talent, but also with the perseverance and daily seriousness of an extraordinary athlete. 288 official Fiorentina appearances, 4 appearances in the Olympic National team, 6 in the under 21: the right-back of the almost third Viola championship, Renzo Contratto.
Category “Players”
HoF 2014
CSAPKAY Károly
In the rare images that portray him, he is sometimes dressed as a Fiorentina athlete, while at others he is in plain clothes next to his players. The newborn Fiorentina of the distant 1926 needed a man capable of carrying out the task of technician but, jointly, so close to the field that his presence was felt not as authoritarian, but comradely. The first coach in red and white history did very well, growing the creation of the Marquis Ridolfi with self-denial and passion.
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2015
DE SISTI Giancarlo
Beloved player and coach. Arriving at Fiorentina very young in 1965, he gave geometry and wisdom for nine years, triumphing as Captain in the second Viola championship win. His football skills, accompanied by an exceptional professional seriousness, lead him to be a protagonist in the national team: European champion in 1968 and vice World champion in 1970. He returned to Florence as a coach, and we admired one of the most beautiful Fiorentina teams in history: that 1983-84 when only Antognoni’s injury denied the possible tricolor. The Scudetto missed on the last day in 1982 is the greatest regret of this formidable coach.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
DESOLATI Claudio
Ten championships with the purple jersey, sealed by the victory of the 1974-75 Coppa Italia and the Italian-English League Cup in 1975, with appearances in all the national youth selections and the National Military Team.
Off the field he wore a long mackintosh with lapels turned up, which earned him the nickname ‘Humprey Bogart’ in the locker room.
On the pitch, he was a modern centre forward who played when the battering rams of the epic time of the ball still reigned.
In the Viola, he brought joy to the Curva Fiesole and racked up historic gems, such as knocking out the great Dino Zoff at only 17 years of age, or the technical platinum hat-trick against Inter: imperial header, bomb from outside, classy lob.
What a genius!
Gifted with superlative technique and elegance in his movements, strong in his acrobatics, he embodied the soul of Fiorentina as a whole, for the unfortunate struggle against destiny marked by injuries and the untamed lust for success.
He got less recognition than he would have deserved for the quality of the game he expressed at the time, but today he reaps all the love he got by always giving his all on the pitch for his Fiorentina.
In the purple jersey from 1971 to 1981 with 201 appearances and 58 goals.
Category “Players”
HoF 2022
DI LIVIO Angelo
He arrived in Florence amidst some grumbling, but Mario Ciuffi took care of getting everyone to agree with the secular rite of degobbization. We were waiting for a toy soldier and we found a captain. A man who gave everything on and off the pitch, trying to shield Fiorentina’s failure.
A true captain never abandons a sinking ship, Angelo moved from the 2002 World Cup to the Gualdo Tadino stadium, becoming the symbol of Fiorentina’s return to Serie A.
Winner of the 2001 Italian Cup, the 2003 C2 championship, the 2004 promotion play-off, we honor with honor the entry of Angelo Di Livio into the Viola Hall of Fame.
Category “Players”
HoF 2023
DUNGA Carlos
Placed in front of the defense, he received the ball or took it by harpooning it from the opponent’s feet and always sending it where it needed to go. When someone decided that his season in Florence was over, a dark shadow fell on the Fiorentina midfield, and without him on the pitch they were relegated. We remembered it on that night of the World Cup final in Pasadena, when Carlos the puppy lifted the World Cup in the face of Sacchi and his former partner Baggio: he was the strongest, the rest didn’t matter. A thousand battles, 122 appearances in the Fiorentina shirt and a mantra among the Viola fans, which will never end “we’re missing a Dunga …”
Category “Players”
HoF 2017
ESPOSITO Salvatore
The wisdom of Pandolfini and his collaborators brought him to Florence when he was just fourteen. He grew up in the Viola’s youth team, winning the 1966 Viareggio Tournament. He made his debut in the first team at 18, becoming one of the major protagonists of Fiorentina ye ye. Equipped with great tactical intelligence, inexhaustible running, excellent technique, he was the ideal complement to the Viola midfield. Having been sold too soon, he returned to Florence as a coach to develop the young Viola with whom he won the Viareggio Tournament in 1988.
We are honored to welcome the entry into the Viola Hall of Fame of Salvatore, “Ciccio”, Esposito, Italian Champion with Fiorentina 1968-69!
Category “Players”
HoF 2023
FANTAPPIÉ Rigoletto
The dean of Fiorentina fans. He was present as a child at the first official red and white match at the stadium in via Bellini in 1926. In the 1930s, he was part of the Order of the Marzocco, the first club of Fiorentina supporters. Maestro of the history and life of Fiorentina, of which he was a fan, organizer and manager of the supporter’s associations, member, councilor. Senator of the Museo Fiorentina.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2012
FERRANTE Ugo
He was 18 when he arrived in Florence, with an already imposing physique, a suitcase full of hope and a smile that always managed to remain youthful. Those were the years in which Italian football was successful, and where it distinguished itself for one particular role: the libero. He was one of the greatest interpreters of that role, libero in the Fiorentina ye-ye, a stronghold of the defense in that extraordinary adventure. Champion of Italy 1968-69 and Vice-champion of the World, with the Italian national team in Mexico in 1970. A giant of Fiorentina history where, with full rights, there is also his hair, cut live on TV, on Domenica Sportiva on 11 May 1969 .
Category “Players”
HoF 2017
FRANCHI Artemio
He was the greatest director of Italian football. A Viola fan since childhood, he began his career as a manager among the referees and then in Fiorentina, of which he was secretary between 1949 and 1952. He always remained a member of Fiorentina, never failing to attend the assemblies. He reached the top of Italian, European and world football: he was president of the FIGC (twice); UEFA president; vice president of FIFA. With him, the Technical Center of Coverciano became the university of European football, the national team was champion of Europe in 1968, vice World champion in 1970, and champion in 1982.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2019
FREY Sébastien
He was twenty-five years old when he moved to Florence, already an established player, one of the best in Serie A in his role. Fiorentina, after the great fear of relegation experienced in the 2004-05 tournament, had great ambitions. Building the team also meant securing a great goalkeeper, a number one. He was chosen well. A goalkeeper who showed great performances, gained leadership in the group thanks to his personality and ability to take all the responsibility. A love, reciprocated, with the public and with the Fiesole that those bleached hairs made into a unique chorus. Magical European nights like with the decisive penalty parried at Goodison Park against Everton and the Champions League victory over Liverpool at Anfield Road, then abruptly interrupted in Munich only for Ovrebo’s incomprehensible refereeing. An exciting cycle, full of satisfaction, even if lacking in success.
A bitter farewell for everyone, his, after six years wearing our number 1 jersey, renewing the great tradition of the Gigliati goalkeepers and forever falling in love with the piazza and the city of Florence.
In the purple jersey from 2005 to 2011 with 218 appearances.
Category “Players”
HoF 2022
GALDIOLO Giancarlo
One of the few certainties for the Fiorentina coaches who were lucky enough to train him during the week and to field him on Sunday afternoon. Nobody ever gave up on Giancarlo’s solidity. Three hundred and fifteen official Viola matches place him close to the top ten in over ninety years of Fiorentina’s history. Three hundred and fifteen sweaty shirts, respected, honored and loved. Ten Serie A championships, with the victory of the 1975 Coppa Italia and the Anglo Italian Cup of the same year. If you were here now you would say you didn’t deserve so much. For all of us, you don’t deserve so little.
Category “Players”
HoF 2018
GALLI Giovanni
The debut in the first team came at the most difficult moment, with the abyss of relegation already wide open, but with that boy the Viola goal was in good firm hands, and Fiorentina were saved. Giovanni Galli, World Champion and Vice-Champion of Italy in 1982, was the worthy heir to the great number ones that preceded him: Griffanti, Costagliola, Sarti, Albertosi, Superchi. He became the goalkeeper with the most Serie A appearances in Fiorentina’s goal. Several times as a director of the club, the burden of rebuilding the team fell to him in 2002.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
GERMOGLI Roberto
His newspaper, “La Nazione”, which he joined at the age of 17 in 1958, hailed him as an “artist of the image”. He has immortalized the protagonists of the Fiorentina story in their technical and human gestures for about 60 years. The shot of a great photographer is like the touch of a great footballer: everyone understands by looking at his photos. This was Roberto’s art, which began in a time when there was no television or internet, and the story of the matches, seen only by those who went to the stadium, had to be accompanied by photo chronicles.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2019
GRATTON Guido
Fulvio Bernardini wanted him in his team at all costs, transforming an attacking midfielder into a complete midfielder who made the fortune of the great Fiorentina of the 1950s. He was one of those always present in the successes, in the four second places, in the Madrid final, in the victory of the Grasshoppers Cup. With his teammates he was a protagonist in viola and in the national team. Painter, coach, tennis teacher, who came from Friuli and chose to remain and live here where, unfortunately, he was barbarically killed.
We pay homage to the Italian Champion Guido Gratton by joyfully greeting his entry into the Viola Hall of Fame.
Category “Players”
HoF 2023
GRAZIANI Francesco
His purchase was the sign of the renewed Fiorentina ambition: you buy the center forward of the national team, you want to win the Scudetto. In Florence he was immediately perceived as “one of the family”. One who, together with Pecci and Bertoni, reacted to the great fear for Giancarlo by loading the team on his shoulders. “Ciccio” the center forward of the third championship, the one denied by the referees of Catanzaro and Cagliari. A complete striker, 1982 World Champion as a Viola player. When needed, he took over as team manager, right up to Avellino, to lead the team in a bitter UEFA Final already decided elsewhere.
Category “Players”
HoF 2019
HAMRIN Kurt Roland
His majesty the goal. The Swedish winger, nicknamed “Little Birdie” by the fans, is the player who has scored the most goals in official matches with the Fiorentina shirt. He wore the purple jersey for nine years, becoming captain. All the adjectives to describe his deeds are reductive. In Florence he won a Cup Winners’ Cup, a Mitropa Cup and a Coppa Italia. A Swede who loved Florence so much that he chose it as a residence even after the end of his career, a Florentine among the Florentines. Simply immense.
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
JULINHO
He is football. Bernardini understood this, seeing him play at the 1954 World Cup and looked to buy him. With the ball between his feet, football becomes art by embroidering feints, dribbles, assists and goals. Three wonderful years in Florence from 1955 to 1958 in which he wins a lot and comes close to winning everything: the Scudetto, the Grasshoppers Cup and the final of the Champions Cup, lost against the powerful Real Madrid. Julinho was the biggest world star to ever wear the Fiorentina jersey. 96 appearances and 23 goals represent the numerical spoils of a profound, very great and mutual love with the city of Florence that goes far beyond the statistics. Julinho!
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
MAGNINI Ardico
He dedicated eight years of power, acrobatics, advances and generosity to Fiorentina. A great athlete. He is the warrior of the tricolor, the one who intimidates his opponents with his physique and his determination without ever encroaching into incorrectness. Ardico’s career has been as extraordinary as only the career of a champion, studded with great sporting achievements: the 1955-56 Scudetto, the Grasshoppers Cup, the final of the European Cup lost in Madrid against Real, twenty appearances for the national team. Magnini is one of the everlasting champions, a team made up of great and inseparable friends who brought the first Scudetto to Florence.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
MANTOVANI Carlino
Those who recounted a football match in the twentieth century had to concentrate on the game’s actions, on the systems, on the athletes’ gestures and, at the same time, quickly write everything down in a notebook. The story of the match sprang from that ink and, reading those chronicles, it still seems to be present today. Those who practiced that trade had to have competence, balance and a spirit of analysis. No television, no radio: just a pen and a mountain of passion for his Fiorentina.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2015
MARASCHI Mario
After many adventures as an offensive winger he arrived in Florence and began, for him and for us, a new time, that of Maraschi the bomber. He will be the new centre-forward: very strong legs, explosive, very clever tactically, perhaps unique in his ability to defend the ball and above all lethal and calculating when it came to hitting the net. 79 appearances and thirty-one goals with our shirt, 14 in the 1968-69 Scudetto year. The number nine who, along with his teammates, made fifteen thousand Viola hearts triumph in the Juventus stadium.
Category “Players”
HoF 2018
MASIERI Giampiero
His dry style reflects his Florentine character. For over five decades he has filled the news of our team with a wealth of memories and individual episodes that have made it a sort of encyclopedia of the history of the Club. From the very beginning he made his skills available to the Museo Fiorentina to selflessly donate all that he had experienced. He saw with his own eyes the greatest champions of Fiorentina and recounted them for all of us.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2016
MAZZONI Mario
For Fiorentina, he was the same as a father for his own son: even the most daredevil knows that, in his hour of need, his father is there. This is what Mario was: in addition to raising many young Viola champions and winning countless trophies with his boys, he always answered when the first team needed his wisdom and experience. Thirty years in Fiorentina with the pearl of a Coppa Italia won in Rome in 1975 against all odds and of which he is, together with his boys, the real winner. Mario Mazzoni a life for Fiorentina.
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2014
MENCUCCI Sandro
Fiorentino, chartered accountant, until 2006 he held the position of Statutory Auditor of the Board of Auditors at F.I.G.C. and the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti and was, in his years of service for Fiorentina, the first CEO of the Della Valle era. In this role he won the national titles with the youth teams, and the victories in the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa with the Primavera team. President of Fiorentina Women, who historically won the Scudetto and the Coppa Italia in the 2016-17 season.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2017
MENTI Romeo
The deep friendship that binds the purple of Florence with the garnet red of Turin has the face of Romeo “Meo Menti”, formidable right winger of Fiorentina, Torino and the national team. An evil fate interrupted his life and that of other extraordinary champions, his companions, when he was only 30 years old. The terrible crash of May 4, 1949 took his life away, but not the Fiorentina pin that he proudly wore on his jacket collar and thanks to which his mangled body was immediately sadly recognized. A great man, a great champion, a great friend of Florence, Fiorentina and Torino.
Category “Players”
HoF 2016
MERLO Claudio
An old colourless image reminds us of him when he was very young, the face of a bratty child dressed in a suit and tie for his arrival in Florence in 1965. In eleven years at Fiorentina Claudio Merlo coloured that photograph purple and became a man wearing the clothes of the athlete. Eleven years of 367 battles fought on the front line, without ever retreating to the rear. A Scudetto, two Coppa Italias, a Mitropa Cup, an Anglo Italian Cup, a presence in the national team, eight in the under 23, but above all the concreteness of a great player with a sincerely purple heart.
Category “Players”
HoF 2014
MONDONICO Emiliano
A man who brought his humanity to the field and to the bench, together with his technical and tactical ability. A fan/coach who brought Fiorentina back to Serie A bringing enormous satisfaction. “Mondo” was a real Viola fan, complete with a card, since 1989, of one of the oldest and most loved Viola Clubs: the Settebello, a tribute to our great number 7’s: Julinho and Hamrin. In his career as a coach, and as a Viola fan, he brought out that humanity that until the end of his life he then used to help problematic kids, giving them the opportunity to express all the vitality they had inside
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2019
MONTUORI Miguel Ángel
The many fans who went to pick him up on his arrival at the Florence train station had never seen him play, but they trusted the intuition of the man that had recommended him: Father Volpi. No one could have imagined what the Argentine from Chile would have done in Italy: with his close friend Julinho he would upset the opposing defenses with his dribbles and unpredictable movements. At the height of his footballing maturity, the same game he played every day betrayed him with a violent blow, putting an end to his competitive career. A Scudetto, a Grasshoppers Cup, 12 matches wih the national team, third in the ranking of official Fiorentina scorers, with 84 goals.
Category “Players”
HoF 2016
MUTU Adrian
You had an impressive class destined to leave a profound mark on the football pitch.
We knew your enormous talent, but we feared your recklessness.
Our coach, Cesare Prandelli, who had convinced us with his work and wanted to bring Fiorentina back to the places they deserved, vouched for you.
He was also your coach, the one with whom you had definitively imposed yourself.
We listened to him, but we Florentines are wary and were waiting for you at the field test.
Your class silenced us and it was immediately love.
Goals, assists, goals, assists, and more goals!
Your genius, accompanied by the impertinence that distinguishes you and the theatricality of your greetings, won us over.
Just as you bowed after each of your goals in the farewell at the Curva Fiesole, today we bow in farewell to ‘The Phenomenon’ who will always have a special place in the hearts of all of Florence!
We welcome Adrian MUTU’s entry into the Viola Hall of Fame, Players Category!
Category “Players”
HoF 2024
ORZAN Alberto
The dream of every sporting director, of every coach: the total player, the one who covers every role and always does it with humility, dedication, courage and plenty of reliability. Alberto Orzan is all this and he is also the captain of the historic 1961 Cup Winners’ Cup victory, the first UEFA trophy to be won by an Italian team. In addition to the 1955-56 Scudetto, the 1957 Grasshoppers Cup and the 1961 Coppa Italia, Orzan ammassed between 1954 and 1963, 246 Fiorentina appearances overall, and four appearances in the senior national team.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
PALOSCIA Raffaello
More than seventy years have passed since his first reports on Fiorentina.
The school of journalism he attended had a very strange name: the ‘Botteghina di via Ricasoli’, the Florentine editorial office of the ‘Corriere dello Sport’ in a basement in front of the Niccolini theatre.
At the ‘Botteghina’ Giordano Goggioli taught the trade and put the young aspirants through their paces.
Sports journalism at that time had to tell the matches to sportsmen who had not seen them.
Television was taking its first steps, the radio was only partially reporting on the progress of competitions.
It was necessary to know the players, their movements, the characteristics of the teams facing each other, the rules, to explain the refereeing decisions. All with only one support: the notebook.
In the scudetto season of 1955-56, the sports editorial staff of ‘La Nazione’ was born, of which he was a pillar, before heading it for many years.
Communication has changed over time, first with private TV and then the web, but he has continued to tell the story of football played with wisdom, always with a great love for Fiorentina.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2022
PANDOLFINI Egisto
Player and manager, he played for Fiorentina between 1945 and 1952. With the Viola he earned the Azzurri jersey and was the protagonist, on May 18, 1952, of Italy-England, a match with the largest number of spectators ever played in Florence: over 90,000 paying fans! With the national team he took part in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil and in Switzerland in 1954. He is the oldest living Italian footballer to have scored a goal in a World Cup. He built and directed the youth sector that created Fiorentina ye-ye and is at the basis of the Fiorentina successes: those of the first team and also those of the various youth teams.
Category “Executives”</b
HoF 2012
PARENTI Lando
A piece of Fiorentina history. A member of the club, he worked as a volunteer for over 50 years, becoming responsible for sports equipment and management. He follows and accompanies, day after day, the growth of Fiorentina by participating, with dedication and passion, in all the moments of its history: from the victory of the 1955-56 Scudetto, celebrated with his great friend Julinho, to that of 1968-69. A serious and generous man, always precise and reliable, he dedicated his whole life and all his enthusiastic love to Fiorentina, giving his all and never asking for anything in return.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2012
PARIGI Narciso
Florentine singer and actor of international fame, he is one of the greatest interpreters of the Italian song of the fifties and sixties. A great supporter of the Viola brings Fiorentina to Italy and around the world by arranging and singing the official anthem of the viola club. He is a councilor in Fiorentina chaired by Nello Baglini, his name and his voice represent Florence and Fiorentina in the world.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2012
PAROLI Ernesto
Responsible for match kits, he allowed all the Fiorentina champions, from the immediate post-war period onwards, to always have perfect team strips and boots. In times when footwear was forged by the hands of an artist, three generations of champions owe their serenity in kicking to him. Seemingly gruff, but with a big heart, Ernesto boasts the longest palmarés ever. A constant presence in the history of Fiorentina: 49 years of love, passion, and dedication.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2013
PESAOLA Bruno
He draws the affectionate nickname of Petisso from his petite build. As a coach, his stature was gigantic and he gathered sympathy and appreciation everywhere for his simple and effective football. His greatest success came in Florence thanks to a championship won with a team of kids, well set up in previous seasons by Beppe Chiappella, who with him became champions. The 1968-69 tricolor remains one of the most extraordinary football feats ever achieved. His character as a thoroughbred Argentine, always with a joke read, made Florentines love him from the very first moment.
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2013
PICCHI Sandro
The boy from Campo di Marte, raised on bread and Fiorentina, has become one of the best pens produced by the sports editorial team of “La Nazione”.
Excellent at recounting sporting events and, above all, football and the Viola team, his great passions.
A job he considered a great privilege and which he honored brilliantly.
His chronicles have for decades marked the progress of the lily team, on and off the pitch, explaining to readers much more than what was happening.
Sandro has developed his own style, very direct, where the journalist lets the sporting event, its progress and the dynamics that characterized it, speak for themselves.
Through his writings, football itself told its story.
A job experienced as a privilege and carried out with extraordinary skill and simplicity.
We welcome Sandro PICCHI’s entry into the Viola Hall of Fame, Ambassadors Category!
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2024
PIN Celeste
He arrived in Florence at the beginning of the 1982-83 season. He had made his mark in the Under-21 and in Serie B.
Fiorentina chose him to replace the strongest Italian stopper, Pietro Vierchowod, and to form the central pair of the defence with a sacred monster of world football: Daniel Passarella.
It was not an easy start, the team paid for the end of the previous championship and the difficulties of Daniel’s inclusion, but the young stopper was able to make up for his lack of experience with concentration and application.
Over the years he became a bulwark of the purple defence, one who never gave up, who gave everything on the pitch, right down to the last drop of sweat.
A true goalscorer, like those of the 1970s, but also a modern defender, intelligent in reading the game and the movements of his adversaries.
Nine championships with the lily jersey, the captain’s armband conquered with merit, but also the great anger, never quenched, for the epilogue of the 1990 Uefa Cup final.
In the purple jersey from 1982 to 1991 with 268 appearances and 6 goals.
Category “Players”
HoF 2022
PIZZIOLO Mario
A midfielder, Fiorentina bought him when he was twenty, in 1929, he remained in purple until 1936. He immediately became a first team player and was the element from which the team’s leap in quality started: from the conquest of Serie A to the fight for the Scudetto of 1934-35. Loved by the fans, he is the first icon of the Viola team and he is the first Fiorentina player to win the title of World Champion in 1934. Unfortunately, during the World Cup, he suffers a serious injury in the battle against Spain (in the quarter-finals), which deeply marks his career.
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
PRINI Maurilio
It was he, the only Florentine of that wonderful team, who was Bernardini’s last, decisive tactical invention to win the scudetto.
It wasn’t just a simple winger, with the number 11 on his shoulders.
A full-back – midfielder – winger, the coach defined him.
The man everywhere who linked the team, increased its balance in defense and offensive strength, as well as guaranteeing some historic goals like the one in Belgrade, in the semi-final of the European Cup, which qualified Fiorentina for the final in Madrid…
Tactical intelligence and two inexhaustible lungs, accompanied by a lot of professional seriousness and self-sacrifice, took him to the great heights of football, champion of Italy in the purple shirt and player of the Italian national team.
We welcome Maurilio PRINI’s entry into the Viola Hall of Fame, Players Category!
Category “Players”
HoF 2024
RANIERI Claudio
A courteous, elegant man, gifted with great culture and with a property of language rare in the world of football. He began his journey with Fiorentina winning the applause of the ‘Favorita’, while the old Viola struggled to accept the B series, he immediately enthused with the young Banchelli and Robbiati.
Four years with many victories: the Serie B championship, the Coppa Italia, the Italian Super Cup: after twenty-one years the titles returned to Florence. During that incredible night of the return from Bergamo: forty thousand fans waiting for the team and celebrating until 4:00 in the morning, intoxicated by passion. An organised, homogenous Fiorentina, with great players: Batistuta, Rui Costa, Toldo and many others imprinted in violet history. An important cycle ended in the Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final against Barcelona. After Florence he travelled around Europe, starring in the biggest stages of football, coming to mark an epoch with the victory of Leicester in the Premier League and obtaining the FIFA award as best coach of 2016.
On the Viola bench from 1993 to 1997 with 172 appearances.
Category “Coaches”
HoF 2022
RAVEGGI Ennio
His runs along the pitch to treat the injured, remained etched in everyone’s eyes: with that huge bag in his hand he walked the field in the direction of those who needed it. And his providential rush saved the life of the greatest Fiorentina player, lifeless on the ground waiting for someone to bring him back to life. And who, if not Pallino, could perform the miracle? In addition to Antognoni, dozens and dozens of other players are indebted to him who, thanks to his treatments and massages, have overcome pain and played games for which they have made history.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2016
RIDOLFI Luigi Vay Da Verrazzano
Patron and entrepreneur, he was the founder and first president of Fiorentina. He assumed all the burdens of corporate management made dramatic by the scarcity of economic means. He built the stadium in Florence using his own means when the public coffers could no longer support the completion of the arena. He was also President of the FIGC and of the Italian Athletics Federation and conceived and built the Federal Technical Center of Coverciano which is dedicated to him as is the athletics stadium in Campo di Marte.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2012
RIGANÒ Christian
He is the bomber of the rebirth. The most prolific and decisive Viola striker from 2002 to 2004, from Serie C2 to Serie A. He marked the beginning of the Della Valle era positively. With his goals, in Florentia Viola and then, finally, in Fiorentina, he drags the club back to the top-flight. With his generosity and humanity, he conquers the Viola crowd and deserves the cheers of thanks from the fans. He chose to live and work in Florence where he was greeted with gratitude by the Fiorentina fans.
Category “Players”
HoF 2012
RIGHETTI Raffaele
Historic Secretary General of Fiorentina. He worked for over 50 years at the club, from 1961 to 2012, at the service of the Viola cause through all the ages, the joys and sorrows, with great organizational capacity, true humility and crystal clear honesty. A story of work and above all of love, with which Raffaele accompanied and often guided the various properties that followed at the helm of the club. Righetti represents Viola history and is Honorary President of the Museo Fiorentina.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2012
ROBOTTI Enzo
His official debut with the number two Fiorentina jersey took place on a sunny afternoon in his hometown against the team called “the greys” and in which he had played in his youth. After the unfortunate debut during which Fiorentina lost the two points and he gained several stitches for a head injury, there followed the most enjoyable and victorious years for Fiorentina of all time: Enzo was always there, for over two hundred and seventy times, many as captain, always as a loyal squire of the backline, on both the right and left, in pairings with Magnini, with Cervato and often with Castelletti.
Category “Players”
HoF 2017
ROGGI Moreno
Only accidents stopped the career of a defender who, at a very young age, had earned a place in the national team. Fiorentina had found the leader around which to build the defensive block to go hunting for the Scudetto again. Winning the 1975 Coppa Italia seemed just an overture. Bad luck decided otherwise. His intelligence however, was not lacking in the world of football: when he became a manager he was the first to support former players who ended up in difficulty. A solidarity practice that continues with the experience of the Viola Glories.
Category “Players”
HoF 2019
ROGORA Bernardo
The beginning was difficult, hard, as your life has always been.
Arriving in Serie A at 27 years old was not a good business card.
The critics were wary, the public demanding: the number 2 shirt, the one worn by Magnini and Robotti, was a heavy legacy.
Nothing was forgiven you, but after a few months you managed to become the defender to whom the strongest attacker could be entrusted, the hound who left the opposing goalscorers dry, so much so that you earned the nickname “Rock”.
In those five years the Fiorentina defense could no longer do without you.
Your duels against Mazzola and the great Gigi Riva were memorable, tough and implacable but always fair clashes.
In the best year you only missed against Bologna, and it was the only defeat of a wonderful season which ended with the championship victory.
It was May 18, 1969, when Fiorentina took the field against Varese for the last match of the season.
The Viola were already Italian champions, and the roar of welcome from the public caused unforgettable sensations, repaying you for the many sacrifices made to get to the top.
We welcome Bernardo ROGORA’s entry into the Viola Hall of Fame, Players Category!
Category “Players”
HoF 2024
ROSETTA Francesco
The unbeatable formations are built over time, starting from the defense. Francesco Rosetta was, together with his companion Sergio Cervato, the first piece of the wonderful mosaic. His experience and technique, combined with the tenacity of Giuseppe Chiappella, led him to defend both purple and blue in those years in which the two colors practically coincided. The captain of the Scudetto, of the Grasshoppers Cup and of formidable, unforgettable vintages.
Category “Players”
HoF 2017
SARTI Giuliano
He is the young goalkeeper called to replace Costagliola. In just one season he will overcome the skepticism of many and win the 1955-56 championship. For nine years he defends the Fiorentina goal with authority. A very concrete goalkeeper and little inclined to spectacular gestures, he redesigns his role in a dynamic way, with a greater involvement in the team game, unusual for that time. With 256 appearances in official matches with the purple jersey, a Scudetto, a Coppa Italia, a Grasshoppers Cup and a Cup-Winners’ Cup. Sarti marks his presence at Fiorentina from 1954 to 1963 also with an appearance in the senior national team and two in the military national team.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
SEGATO Armando
His story, even today, grieves our hearts. It is the story of an athlete born to play football and to do it with that refinement that only an innate class can grant. It is the story of a Scudetto, a Grasshoppers Cup and an invincible team of which he was the pivot of a formidable midfield. It is the story of 255 purple shirts and 20 blue shirts always honored by a heart of gold and excellent performance. It is the story of a father of a family, a splendid family, who too soon chose the sky as a playing field. It is the story of Armando Segato that we all feel next to us today.
Category “Players”
HoF 2014
STACCIONE Vittorio
A quality midfielder from Torino, he arrived in Florence in April 1927. He played the first international match in the history of Fiorentina against Lugano and was the protagonist of the first difficult years of the new club. He remained in Florence for four years, from 1927 to 1931, experiencing the transition from the red and white shirt to the purple one and, making a great contribution to the first historic promotion to Serie A. An Antifascist, he was captured by the SS, as a political opponent, on 12 March 1944 and he was deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp where he died after a year of ferocious imprisonment.
Category “Players”</b
HoF 2012
SUPERCHI Franco
After Griffanti, Costagliola, Sarti and Albertosi, he joins the great goalkeepers who have defended the Fiorentina goal for a decade at a time. After so many greats, yet another one. Arriving in Florence at just twenty-one in 1965, he learned the best from the then number one for the club and national team. A handshake of congratulations from Pelé at the end of a friendly match in 1967 marks the definitive start of the climb: in the first year as first choice he wins the Scudetto with his fellow Fiorentina ye-ye and for 318 official matches, his bare handed saves are part of the club story.
Category “Players”
HoF 2016
TANTURLI Valter
President of the Fiorentina Supporters Association and historic president of the Viola Club Vieusseux, he has always been the head fan of the Curva Ferrovia groups, but also an irreplaceable point of reference for all fans. His great organizational capacity, combined with his lucid vision of the role of a fan, helped solve the most delicate situations, always guaranteeing the team the support of the twelfth man. He was a master of values and love for the flag and for this reason he will remain for everyone a beacon of passion for the purple jersey and for the Florentine spirit.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2013
TOLDO Francesco
By observing our children before each match with their local team, we find the happy traits and the eagerness just to play that Francesco Toldo had when, as a young goalkeeper, he came to wear our jersey. From his gloves we started again after a bitter relegation and, with his gloves, we raised two Coppa Italias, an Italian Supercoppa and almost reached a Cup-Winners’ Cup final. In eight years, over 330 appearances, thousands of dives and, while saving three penalties in the same match with the national team, the pride of being able to say: “It’s Francesco; he’s Viola! ”.
Category “Players”
HoF 2015
TONI Luca
“There’s always Luca …”. This was the common thought of us fans when we saw our Fiorentina go behind. And he never betrayed expectations: whether it was with his head, his right foot, or acrobatics, he always managed to send the ball over the opponent’s line. The results of those seasons are filled only by his surname. After years of feasting on goals with the great Christian Riganò, we had indigestion with those of another great bomber, of Fiorentina, and also of the 2006 world champion national team.
Category “Players”
HoF 2016
UGOLINI Ugolino
A noble and generous soul. A life of selfless passion for Fiorentina: President of a legendary Coppa Italia and an Anglo Italian Cup, has been at the centre of the Viola world for almost two decades, carrying the burdens of a complicated but fascinating leadership on his shoulders. He did not hesitate to throw a big player on the pitch, to allow us fans enjoy the beauty of an ace like Giancarlo Antognoni. Without that act of courage and foresight, our history today would have been devoid of our eternal number 10.
Category “Executives”
HoF 2015
VALCAREGGI Ferruccio
Enhances the ranks of Fiorentina player-coaches. Extraordinary Viola winger at the turn of the war with 126 appearances, 27 goals and a Coppa Italia in 1940, the first ever for Fiorentina, he was coach on two occasions, from 1962 to 1963, and between 1984 and 1985. Technical Commissioner of the National team with the splendid success in the 1968 European championship and the 1970 World Cup final enrich the pride for having had him on the Fiorentina bench.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
VALENTI Paolo
Having turned off the transistor radio, a faithful friend of league Sundays, we waited impatiently for his smiling and reassuring face to appear. Paolo Valenti briefly introduced the day and passed the line to local reporters, each with the regional accent of the team they commented on. We did not know it, but Paolo suffered: he could not freely shout his joy in case of his Fiorentina’s victory or his bitterness in case of defeat. His impeccable professionalism and his balance in any situation prevented us from being able to embrace him as one of ours: we do it now, dear Paolo.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2015
VIRGILI Giuseppe
To win you need the bombers and the big boy from Friuli, who arrived to Fiorentina in 1954-55 is just that. With Virgili at the center of the attack, Fiorentina won their first national title. In his seasons played with the Viola jersey, he destroys the opponent’s defenses with obstinate consistency: 64 goals in 115 official appearances make him one of the most prolific Fiorentina strikers of all time. With seven appearances and two goals, in Brazil, in the senior national team he helps to color the Azzurri of the fifties with purple.
Category “Players”
HoF 2013
VOLK Rodolfo
Arriving late, the newborn Fiorentina needed to make her way into national football. In 1926, taking advantage of the fact that he was in the military in Florence, it chose a center forward who could make the fortune of any team even today. Tall, strong, smiling in the photos and merciless in the penalty area. The first gunner in the history of Fiorentina seemed to come from the most specialized armies of grenadiers and, like them, he threw his bombs, but with his feet.
Category “Players”
HoF 2015
ZEFFIRELLI Franco
The extraordinary artistic talent of the master has created absolute masterpieces for the big and small screen and marked the most important works on the stages of the most important theaters around the world. For Florence, however, he is and will always be, above all the most important among the Viola fans, the first supporter of our beloved Fiorentina, a universal ambassador of Florence and his football team.
Category “Ambassadors”
HoF 2013