Belonging issue one, Venezia

Football in Italy is much more than a sport, it is an essential element of a city's life. It marks the rhythm with which days pass, loves are separated from sorrows and celebrations and disappointments overlap, all of which are faced while wearing the jersey of one's favorite team. Over the years the jerseys, from uniforms used to distinguish the players, have become a visceral symbol of belonging to a community, no longer confined to the canonical ninety minutes of play but present in every aspect of everyday life. A feeling that Kappa wanted to celebrate in the jerseys made for the 2021/22 season. 

Venezia FC is going through a period of rebirth, culminating last year with the long-awaited return to Serie A, thanks to the new U.S. ownership that has imposed an innovative and international style. A revolution that has proved to be a winner and that has found in Kappa a perfect ally in interpreting at the same time the Venetian fans' desire for tradition and novelty. "The four jerseys are all cool in my opinion, which is different from beautiful, they are cool because there is research, they express Venetianity by proposing details not taken for granted, I was impressed with all of them, it will be the first year that I will take all four," says Daniele Reale, owner of the Marciano Bar and the first protagonist of Belonging. Reale, after a long experience in various realities of Mestre, in 2013, together with his partner Federico Frassinelli, founded Marciano in Marghera, a pub with a classic British flavor seasoned with splashes of color that remind us that we are still in Italy.

"Pub etymologically means Public House, and the Marciano really is, everyone at the Marciano feels at home, in a common, in a protected place and container of feelings, origins, details and elegant Venetian style, which unfortunately in a Venice increasingly mainstream interspersed with fake Venetian stereotyped in local mournful and approximate translated into "bacari typical", which have little if any typical, places like ours become rare". The Marciano in Marghera has been so successful that Reale has decided to open one in Venice as well, in Calle Loredan to be precise, where it is a must to order a sandwich, have a beer and watch Venezia play. Which is at home at Marciano, which soon became a staple for all fans of the team of the Serenissima, where to gather before, during and after to cheer and suffer together for the same shirt. "At the Marciano you are constantly in the match atmosphere thanks also to the assiduous attendance of President Duncan, Paolo Poggi, Alex Menta, Sonya Kondratenko, Ivan Cordoba, some players and their partners, many guys of the very young media-photo-video-pr staff of Venezia Calcio who have made of the Marciano Pub a meeting and reference point" Reale explains.

But it is above all a safe harbor where to dock after the religious ninety minutes of play at the Penzo, where we meet for the post-game, "a sort of Third Half for all the interpreters, supporters, club and service workers, we arrive at the Marciano Pub in groups or on our own, with a smile or pissed off, and obviously for this evening we don't talk about anything else". A tradition that is now becoming more and more rooted, also thanks to the good results of Paolo Zanetti's team that has collected the sympathy and interest also of those who do not live in the lagoon. The Venezia brand, in fact, distinguished by clean, well-edited communication and an aesthetic that is more that of an art studio than a soccer club, has gone beyond the limits of the Venetian canals.

The work done by Kappa for Venezia's return to Serie A is definitely a step forward, "even if it requires a mentality that is certainly not within everyone's reach, given that the more "traditionalist" public has contested the choices, while those who are more projected towards stylistic evolutions, the twinning of sports-fashion-music, streetwear, cannot help but think "ohhh, finally we're here too". Finally a step forward, a study, a real project that takes us away from provincialism and projects us to the total internationality of the brand VENICE". 

For the 2021/22 season, Kappa has created four jerseys of great impact, which have made their way not only into the hearts of Venetian fans, like Daniele Reale, thanks to subtle yet elegant references to the history of the city and the team. The first jersey features the golden stars of St. Mark's Basilica arranged in a "V", the second a triangle pattern reminiscent of the beautiful Venetian mosaics, the third is inspired by the colors of the lagoon while the fourth is perhaps the most identifiable of the lot, as Daniele Reale also confirms. "It's my favorite, as a Venetian and a succubus lover of Venice it can only be the red one that recalls the Gonfalone, the flag of San Marco, the symbol of Venice".

Photographer: Eleonora D’Angelo
Stylist: Francesco Tizzano
Photographer Assistant: Danilo Cautero
Editorial Coordinator: Elisa Ambrosetti
Art Director: Alessandro Bigi / nss factory
Talent: Daniele Reale
Production: nss factory