WHILE the UK eats itself alive trying to decide if The National’s featuring of Roberto Mancini on our front page is hilarious or hostile, Italy is united.
The nation’s largest sports paper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, has pinned the image of Mancini as Braveheart to the top of their live Euros blog.
We have messages in our Twitter inbox asking if we can send copies of the paper out to Italy, and more in our Facebook inbox asking the same.
And the front page has been reported on by media outlets across the Mediterranean nation, from Vanity Fair to Sky TG24.
The attention isn’t always focused on the Euros however, extending through this paper’s political alignment to the inevitable question of independence.
The Vanity Fair report tells its readers: “The final of the Euros, of course, is just further evidence of a battle that Scotland has waged for centuries to try to disengage from English authority and live independently: a need already seen during Brexit and which continues today, extending to all forms.”
READ MORE: Bitterness or banter? How the UK reacted to The National's Euro 2020 front page
While readers in the UK struggle to decide if the front page is tongue-in-cheek or nationalism at its worst, the Italians think it’s “esilarante”, which means hilarious, funny or even, and unlikely in context, exhilarating.
After explaining the Mancini as William Wallace image, the Corriere dello Sport reports: “The subtitle of the image is even more hilarious and explains why in Scotland they will be cheering for our national team in the final against the English: ‘We can’t take another 55 years of them boasting’.”
The page actually reads “banging on about this” and not “boasting”, but the Italians have generally translated it to the single word “vantano”.
Il giornale indipendentista scozzese The National che tifa Italia.
— Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) July 9, 2021
“Mancini, sei la nostra ultima speranza”
Con Mancini-Braveheart contro l’Inghilterra.#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/NfeBVxZzU2
Shades of meaning aside, the Italians have grasped irony where many in the UK have not.
Sky TG24 (an Italian 24-hour news channel) calls the front page: “An ironic and clear stance.”
The praise comes thick, with the daily newspaper il Giornale reporting that the headline is “eloquent” (eloquente - no shades of meaning there).
It goes on: “If the title is eloquent, the subtitle that reveals the real reason (if there was still a need) for the support of some Scottish independence activists for Italy is even more so.”
READ MORE: Here's why football isn't really 'coming home' if England win the Euros
The outlet then reports on some English papers’ front pages - but with none of the complimentary adjectives. Perhaps that’s unsurprising.
Il Napolista also reports on our front page using strikingly similar terms, saying: “The title is eloquent, but the subtitle even more so.”
Other outlets have also covered our page, including Dire Giovani, La Republica, French sport site GoalPoint, and Spanish-language Mega’s El Chiringuito TV.
We love you too, Italy.
Additional translation done with context.reverso.net/translation/
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