The graphic project describing Salernitana's miracle

"If someone had told me five months ago that, after all that we have experienced - with a promotion celebrated relatively little because of the phantom registration due to timeshare, a first part of the season played with a rose even weaker than that which came second in Serie B, with three coaches replaced in rapid sequence - that on December 31, at 23. 59, just a minute before the cancellation, my favorite team would pass into the hands of Danilo Iervolino, - founder of Pegaso University, visionary entrepreneur, volcanic, economically solid, fan and dreamer - that the Sporting Director would be Walter Sabatini, - a legend in the field, a football man and a straightforward, sincere and highly competent person - that the team would be turned upside down with the arrival of 10 players in just 18 days, I would probably have a big laugh."

So begins our discussion with Paolo Speziale, graphic designer and founder of "La Salernitana", a graphic project born in 2012 and that since then he takes care of meticulously and daily. A work that this year will be 10 years old, born to unite two of his greatest passions: the Salernitana and art. A project that mixes these two things, under of course the color granata of which Paolo is madly lost, as he told us.

"My first real approach to the granata colors occurred in 2011, when Salernitana, qualified for the Serie C playoffs, was playing for promotion to Serie B. A dear friend of mine, also a Salernitana fan, invited himself to my house to watch the semi-final return match of the playoff against Alessandria, won against Hellas Verona. That same final declined in a first defeat for 2-0 at the Bentegodi and a second, bitter, victory for 1-0 in the return match in a packed Arechi. Hellas went to Serie B, amidst the tears of the 11 people in granata shirts on the field, the 40,000 in the stands, and the countless people sitting on the sofas at home, like me. Something, however, had burst inside me. Despite the defeat. I had already realized that my football faith would grow in suffering. Following that defeat, the Campania club suffered yet another failure, with annexed restart from the Serie D. Just in this category that I saw for the first time the Salernitana to the Stadium. It was the last day and the granata (in that season in Barcelona-style blaugrana, due to the failure of the brand) celebrated the return to Serie C2. It was a stroke of lightning. I knew right away that Salernitana would be my faith and Stadio Arechi my church."

But being an avid consumer of football, of whatever category it is, if there is one thing that from the couch at home has particularly convinced me when I saw Salernitana play is undoubtedly the fiery support of the fans. Wherever they go they are always many, noisy but above all beautiful to see. A sensation that in fact Paolo also confirmed to me: "the public, for its part, has always been the 12th man, and not just in a manner of speaking. We've covered miles all over Italy, we've sung with our backs to the pitch at 4-0 to our opponents, both at home and away. Always and only for that granata jersey and that ippocamp on our chest that still excites us for almost 103 years."

An enthusiasm rediscovered not only thanks to the change of players and coaches, but above all by the new management, good at giving new life to a city that, as we said earlier, has never left the team alone, in any playing field." Salernitana is 'free': we have been given back the dignity that was trampled on for 10 years by the Lotito-Mezzaroma management (despite the sporting satisfactions that there have been and to which we give due credit). We have been given new enthusiasm, new hope. A new sporting life that sees us, now, masters and architects of our destiny. Finally 'free' to talk only about football."

Masters and architects of their destiny but with a strong commander to manage the reins of everything: Davide Nicola. The man of salvation, the man of impossible challenges, the right charismatic coach at the right time, the only one able to reverse the fortunes of a team already given for brazen from the first days. Nicola had the merit of charging the environment, of giving his players a hope when everything seemed lost. On the other hand, the results attest to it, in the last 5 games, after the recovery won yesterday against Venice, Salernitana has won 13 points to resurrect the team that now between the general amazement is climbing the standings. 

"If there was a coach who could try the feat of a desperate salvation, it was Davide Nicola. An excellent coach and a wonderful person: genuine, sanguine, romantic and gritty. After his miracles with Crotone and Genoa, he accepted a new mission impossible, immediately entering the Granata environment, creating an osmotic relationship with the fans. Two episodes are already history: the promise to walk barefoot to the Vatican in case of salvation, and the threat with the shoe to one of his players after a mistake in the match won against Fiorentina."

But with Paolo, founder of "La Salernitana," we didn't just talk about the sporting side of things, we dug into the aesthetics of the Granata team, retrieving some great pearls from the archives. It must be said that Salernitana in recent years has not been particularly brilliant from an aesthetic point of view, even though the Granata team, especially in the past decade, has collaborated with asics for a long time. Together with Paolo, we asked ourselves if building a brand around the famous hippocampus could be the right key, a logo that embodies and represents the Campania team.

"It's true: the last 5/10 years game uniforms have not stood out for particularity. The designs have almost always been very basic, although some jerseys deserve a mention, such as the commemorative uniform in honor of the unforgettable Agostino Di Bartolomei, worn on the occasion of the final of the Coppa Italia Lega Pro in 2013 and branded Givova. In 2019, then, the year of the centenary, there was the passage to Zeus that designed a home uniform really elegant in its simplicity: a modern reinterpretation of the 1949 shirt, with the logo for the 100 years of the club in full view. The Campania-based company has also given fans a real treat: a limited edition commemorative uniform, only 1919 pieces, a faithful reproduction of the 1949-50 championship jersey. The first one in which the seahorse was on the crest. Personally, I think that we can create a really strong brand identity from the point of view of design and use of the Salernitana 'brand', and consequently an even richer merchandising that can appeal to the many fans and collectors of granata faith."

With the last question I actually put Paolo in a bit of a bind, so much so that he started picking up all the pieces of iron in the vicinity, performing all the predictable scaramantic procedures. You can already guess where my question was going, but with the victory that came yesterday at home against Venezia, we can say that an extremely important piece of the puzzle has been added to our salvation. 

"I can't deny that I believe in salvation, and in fact I've always had a little hope, even when everyone thought we were doomed. The calendar, both ours and that of our direct opponents, tells us that destiny is in our hands and that we must try until the end. Then, 'come what may, we'll never leave you', as one of the most sung choruses this year says, at home and away."

 

With 3 days to go, Salernitana is +1 from the relegation zone and still has to play Cagliari, Empoli and Udinese. These are easy matches for a team that was considered relegated months ago and that today risks writing a fundamental chapter in its sporting history.