These are the words that before any AS Roma home game the whole Stadio Olimpico sing in front of a wall of yellow and red scarves. Core de ‘sta città comes from the iconic anthem Roma Roma Roma, written in 1983 by one the greatest Italian singers and AS Roma fanatic, Antonello Venditti.

It’s quite accurate to say that AS Roma is the heart of Rome. There is of course SS Lazio too, the oldest club, founded in 1900, but everywhere you go you can feel that AS Roma is the most popular football club in town.

A peculiar foundation

When football arrived in Rome, at the beginning of 20th Century, the scene was more like London with several football clubs in the city.

It was the Fascist regime that changed the situation (as it changed for other towns as well, Florence and Naples above all). With the creation in 1926 of the National Division some Roman football clubs (Alba, Fortitudo and Roman) decided to merge, and on 22nd July 1927 the Associazione Sportiva Roma was born with the gold and scarlet as their colours.

Since their birth AS Roma have become the most followed football team in the city. Deeply rooted in the popular neighborhoods (the so called borgate) but especially the one in which the club played from 1929 to 1940: the Campo Testaccio. Roma moved to the actual Stadio Flaminio (at that time named by the Fascist regime Stadio del Littorio) built for the 1934 World Cup, and finally to what is still the giallorossi’s home today: the Stadio Olimpico, built for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Before the pause for war Roma’s peak was their first Serie A title in 1942. What followed was a long dark period in which AS Roma spent the only year in Serie B in their history: 1951-52. Since then they have won two other league titles in 1982-83 and 2000-01 and nine Italian domestic trophies, the last one in 2008-09.

On the European front AS Roma have not had such a successful history. They won the Inter-City Fairs Cup in 1961 (beating Birmingham City in the final) and then in 2022 they were the first winners of the Uefa Conference League, against Feyenoord (after beating another English club in the semi final, Leicester City).

In Europe the club has had two of the greatest disappointments in their history, both involving English football. The first one was maybe the biggest shock Roma supporters can remember. In the 1984 European Cup final they lost on penalties to Liverpool at the Stadio Olimpico.

The second one is more recent. Just last season, at the Europa League final in Budapest against Sevilla (where they also lost on penalties) hotly disputed by José Mourinho and the supporters because of the refereeing of Graham Taylor.

*AS Roma and Liverpool marching on the Olimpico’s turf for the European Cup final in 1984.*

A new era with Capitan Futuro

Capitan Futuro is the nickname that Daniele De Rossi has grown up with. Deeply and firmly romanista (he’s been in with the Roma ultras many times in the curva sud). He has the second most appearances in the league for the club, with 462 games played for the giallorossi. Only behind, of course, the legendary Francesco Totti with an incredible tally of 621.

He is, with Totti, a club legend and the symbol of romanità, the guy born in Rome, who grew up as an AS Roma supporter who has dedicated his entire life to the club, maybe winning much less than he could have won at another club.

*Daniele De Rossi and Francesco Totti celebrate together. A common scene for Roma fans.*

On January 16th, after a heavy 3-1 defeat against AC Milan they were eliminated in the national cup by their arch enemies Lazio, with the team in a disappointing 9th place in Serie A. The AS Roma board decided to sack José Mourinho and to call Daniele De Rossi in as first team coach.

It looked like a reckless move because De Rossi had no experience as a coach (his only experience was a brief spell at Spal, in Serie B, last season).

But from that moment the mood in Roma has completely changed. In six games in Serie A, Roma have five wins, with the only defeat against a rampant Inter who are dominating the league.

Moreover, it looks and feels like a completely different side from Mourinho's AS Roma. If Jose’s Roma struggled to create chances and shots on target, with De Rossi you can see a much more offensive team that tries to play football, and not just to contain the opponents.

This started from the system adopted by De Rossi: an offensive 4-3-3, instead of the 3-5-2, in which he has changed some key players.

First of all the keeper, Rui Patricio, who had shown some uncertainties, has been dropped and De Rossi has promoted the young Serbian (born in Belgium) Mile Svilar, who was the hero against Feyenoord in the Europa League playoff.

The back four is formed by Holland’s Rick Karsdorp as right back, the new signing Angelino as left back, plus Gianluca Mancini and the young Huijsen (already two goals since his arrival on loan from Juventus in January). Chris Smalling is still recovering from a long-term injury.

In midfield the European champion with Italy, Bryan Cristante, the World champion Leandro Paredes and the captain Lorenzo Pellegrini; Totti and De Rossi’s heir as a Roma symbol. A quality central three with Pellegrini that, since the managerial change, has scored three goals.

The front three are interchangeable on the pitch: Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku and Stephan El-Shaarawy. They have struggled for most of the season, however in a recent league game Dybala scored an incredible hat-trick that gave Roma a 3-2 win (against Torino).

*Paulo Dybala celebrates his hat-trick against Torino with the curva sud.*

Nel cervello soltanto la Roma

More than the top players, more than De Rossi, the real element that can change everything are the Roma fans and the atmosphere they can create inside the Stadio Olimpico.

Nel cervello soltanto la Roma means “only AS Roma in the head” and it epitomises their football team.

Since covid, the Stadio Olimpico has been sold out, even for the national cup games against sides from lower divisions that, in Italy, are games that don’t usually command big attendances.

Sixty thousand supporters at each Roma game and a crowd that is very noisy and can turn the heat up in games at any moment.

The heart of all this is the Curva Sud, the home of the most fanatical support. Different from any other curva in Italy. Curva Sud doesn’t have a main central group, but a galaxy of small groups, mostly composed of people from the same neighborhood or even estate.

It has not always been like that. In the 1980s most groups were reunited in one bigger group called Commando Ultrà Curva Sud (CUCS), one of the most iconic and influential groups in Italian ultras history.

Of course the biggest game of the season for all Roma fans is the city derby against SS Lazio. It’s one the fiercest rivalries in world football and it’s heated by the fact that the two clubs are not used to winning trophies (unlike in Milan) so in many seasons to win a derby is to declare who is the best club in town.

The worst day in AS Roma’s history was the 26th of May 2013 when Lazio won the cup final in the Olimpico against their archrivals with a Senad Lulic goal. Of course, derbies against Lazio always have clashes and riots between both sets of fans but also big and spectacular tifos with many references to the ancient Roman Empire.

*The choreography for the 2020 derby, just before the covid pandemic.*

Beyond football

The city of Rome is of course much more than football. Rome is so beautiful that even if you spent your whole life there you wouldn’t be able to discover all its artistic and historical wonders.

Rome has a great tradition of food, with some iconic Italian dishes such as the pasta alla carbonara or the amatriciana. You can eat them, as well as many other typical dishes, at Enzo al 29 in Trastevere or at the trattoria della Sora Lella on Tiberina Island. In Testaccio the neighborhood where AS Roma used to play in the 1930s you have Bucatino, Felice a Testaccio, Lo Scopettaro, in the Pigneto you have the Biosteria dar Parucca, all good and traditional restaurants.

There is typical Roman pizza too, quite different from the Neapolitan one, which can be tried in Trastevere at the Pizzeria l’Elementare or the Pizzeria ai Marmi.

If you want to have a drink, a coffee or a beer in a typical and traditional bar you can go to the Bar San Calisto just behind the beautiful church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.This is maybe the most iconic bar in Roma with its Campari and 0,66 Peroni bottle at 2,50€.

A good pub, with a real football atmosphere (they have an impressive collection of scarves inside) is the Shamrock near the Colosseum. If you want to hang around Campo de’ Fiori, Trastevere and Pigneto are full of places to have a good drink.

Rome has its own musical tradition both mainstream and both underground. If you want to connect with the town (even if you don’t know Italian) I can suggest you listen to iconic Italian musicians like Antonello Venditti (the author of AS Roma anthem), Franco Califano, Francesco De Gregori, Renato Zero, Rino Gaetano, Lucio Battisti. More recently singers like Alex Britti, Daniele Silvestri, Eros Ramazzotti, Fiorella Mannoia, Giorgia and in the last ten years Gazelle, Achille Lauro, Calcutta.