The first ever live match that I experienced was at Stadio San Vito, Cosenza in Calabria. Although I was born in Reggio Calabria, my maternal grandfather was from Cosenza, about an hour or so north of Reggio Calabria. Other than my father, he was the most influential man in my life. He founded a construction company in his home town and worked 7 days a week. His passion was calcio, and he would tell me that he watched his Cosenza team play in the original stadium for the club named, Città di Cosenza. Incredibly, the stadium was on viale Roma and the Cosenza team were called Lupi. He told me it was a small "stadium", barely capable of holding 5,000 people. The name of the stadium was changed to “Stadio Emilio Morrone” in honor of a Cosenza player who died during a match. By the time it became Stadio San Vito, it barely held 20,000 fans. My first ever match saw Consenza win and I remember an incredible player with the last name of Villa, who dominated the game. After this match, I was forever addicted to calcio as a spectator. That was in 1974. Even though we moved from Reggio Calabria to Rome in 1964, I was not a fanatical fan of the game because I was a very sickly boy, almost dying of asthma on three occasions even though I was able to play the game. Calabria was not an easy jaunt south from Roma. It was a long, tiring trek since there was not a comfortable highway south. In fact, in order to get to my father's home town, donkeys were needed to get up those hills to Chorio di San Lorenzo because there were no roads capable of passing with an automobile. Such were the conditions of post war Italy where the south was neglected and devoid of paved roads, electricity and sewage. ...
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