CBC Sports Online's soccer expert, John Molinaro, takes you inside the world of soccer and offers his insights about the action on the pitch and in the front office.
Soccer and a slice
Comments (11)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 | 12:36 PM ET
CBCSports.ca soccer expert John F. Molinaro is on vacation in Rome for a month. While there he plans on eating a pile of prosciutto, soaking up the warm Italian sun and watching a lot of soccer.
Pizza Rustica is a hole in the wall and it doesn't look like much from the outside, but the quaint little place is easily the best pizzeria in San Lorenzo, the neighbourhood I'm staying in while in Rome.
There are no less than three pizzerias around the corner from my apartment, but I walk the extra two blocks to Pizza Rustica because the selection is the best (my three favourites are porcini mushrooms with chilli peppers, buffalo mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and grilled eggplant and artichokes with basil).
Pictures of Francesco Totti and his AS Roma teammates are splashed all over the walls (the owner, Pino, is a diehard Roma fan, and he has a reputation of refusing to serve Lazio fans - he almost refused to serve me one time because I made the sin of walking into his place wearing a Juventus jersey).
The television mounted on the wall high about the counter is always turned on to a soccer program. Always. The Italian Prime Minister could be caught up in some tawdry scandal that is the lead item on the nightly news, but you would never know it by walking into Pizza Rustica - the TV is always turned to Sky Calcio or RAI Sports.
Soccer is the main topic of discussion amongst the pizzeria's loyal clientele - there are no tables and no chairs, and you have to stand when you're eating, so the environment makes it easy to chat with others - and Pino often gets into it with his customers as he dishes out slices of heaven to the hungry masses.
This is the main reason why I come to Pizza Rustica, for the atmosphere. You can get pizza anywhere in Rome, but at Pizza Rustica, you get soccer and a slice.
When I went to Pizza Rustica for the fist time, Pino picked up that I was a foreigner (my Italian isn't all that great, but I know enough to get by) and asked me where I was from.
After telling him that I was a Canadian journalist who's main interest was soccer, his face lit up.
"E vero?" (Is that right?) replied Pino.
Now, whenever I walk into the place, Pino refers to me simply as "the Canadian" - "Ecco, il Canadese!" (the Canadian has arrived!) is how he welcomes me.
It's a flattering nickname, signifying that in the mind of this pizza merchant, I am the only Canadian - not Don Cherry, Stephen Harper or Sidney Crosby, who really matters. Note that I am Il Canadese and not un Canadese (THE CANADIAN not just a Canadian).
It's an important distinction to make because it was a similar nickname that was bestowed upon French playmaker Michel Platini when he played for Juventus back in the 1980s. Platini became simply known as Il Francese (The Frenchman).
I walked in this afternoon for a quick bite and the TV was showing highlights of Lazio's 2-1 win over Werder Breman in the Champions League the night before.
Before I could even place my order, Pino stopped an argument he was having with one customer and said "Vediamo cose dice Il Canadese," (Let's see what the Canadian thinks).
It turns out Pino thought Lazio was rather lucky to defeat their German opponents and that he doesn't believe Roma's bitter city rivals will qualify for the second round.
My opinion was solicited to help settle the argument. Fearful of biting the hand that feeds me pizza, I nonetheless told Pino that from where I was sitting (and I had perfect seats for the game, right at the halfway line about 30 rows up) Lazio deserved to win and that it dominated Werder Breman.
Pino mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't catch and then begrudgingly took my order. He must have felt betrayed because I noticed he kept shaking his head as I wolfed down my slice of porcini and chilli peppers.
He assured me before I left that everything was cool, but I have my doubts and if tomorrow he screws up my order, I know that I'll likely have eaten my final slice at Pizza Rustica.
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About the Author
John F. Molinaro is a reporter for CBC Sport Online whose chief love is international soccer. John served as senior editor of Sports Online's Euro 2004 website, which helped him win a CBC.ca Award of Excellence, and was the driving force behind our coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He holds an honours BA in sociology from York University and a print journalism diploma from Sheridan College, and is also the author of The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time (Stewart House, 2002).
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Comments (11)
Romanista
Canadian - CANADESE
French - FRANCESE
Pizza rustica - any pizzeria that sells pizza by the slice
Come on Molinaro and CBC! Let's get the basics right. These "postcards" are shockingly ill-informed for a journalist from Canada's national news source. Maybe stick to pro wrestling?
Posted November 8, 2007 09:19 AM
Andrea Attinello
Brampton
Check the spelling in this article.
It's "il Canadese" not "il Canadiese". It is spelled wrong all through the entirety of the blog.
Posted November 8, 2007 12:15 PM
todd pantalone
toronto
Its a good thing you're in Italy, at least you'll pick up proper Italian. Its "Il Canadese" look it up
Also, what the heck were you thinking,wearing a Juve jersey in Rome?
Anyways keep up the blog, its a fun read.
Posted November 8, 2007 01:44 PM
josh(i giallorossi)
Forza Roma!!!!....nice article...sounds like the destination of choice for any self respecting Roma fan. I cannot, however, ever imagine giving lazio the compliment of " playing well"!!
Kudos!!
Posted November 8, 2007 04:00 PM
Jon
Ottawa
Hey Romanista and Adrea, you need to chill out about how you spell Canadian in Italian. Its not that big of a deal. Sure it was a mistake, but its fixed now. Anyways, great blog John FORZA JUVE!
Posted November 12, 2007 01:22 AM
Steve French
France
Dear John,
I recommend a stroll through the Garbatella neighbourhood where you will find murals depicting scenes from AS Roma history with an emphasis on Francesco Totti. Located there abouts is a small bar dedicated to AS Roma where you will discover a parakeet who chants ‘Forza’.
A dopo
Posted November 12, 2007 10:07 AM
Chris
Toronto
Wow - no need to get hyper critical on a few spelling mistakes - it isn't good enough that J-Mo is blogging while on vacation (he isn't there on CBC's dollar!), and admits that his Italian is not perfect in the article! I think this is a great read, having never been to Italy myself.
Jon - are you still in Rome? Were you present for the riots?
Posted November 12, 2007 01:27 PM
Israel Anguiano
John, maybe you should be in Spain on holidays instead considering that Spain has better football clubs.
Posted November 12, 2007 11:34 PM
JD
Toronto
At least Italians are finding this Italoblog interesting!
Snoozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzze.
Posted November 13, 2007 09:29 AM
Johnny Centreback
Toronto
Nothing like Rome, nothing like proper pizza...
Posted November 15, 2007 07:23 AM
pete
roma
haha john cool story! don't know pizza rustica but will do tomorrow as i'm in san lorenzo on a mission! lazio did deserve to beat werder bremen, lazio deserve to beat everyone ;-)
Posted November 16, 2007 12:27 PM