SAINT MARADONA
Why It’s Okay For Naples to Worship This Flawed Idol
The sun eases down a corridor of Naples along a stretch of “strada” called Via Emanuele de Deo. Mario DiTanno, a resident of Naples most of his life leans over his terrace to catch the last glimpse of sun before its gone. “I love this time of day and this time of year,” he says speaking to me through whatsapp video. “The hottest days are behind us, but the sun seems to linger as it sets and the lights come on in the square almost give off this golden illumination. It’s a beautiful time.”
I met Mario, oddly enough through AirBnb. I was looking for people to talk to in and around the Spanish Quarter of Naples. He’s renting out an apartment facing one of the original murals created of Diego Maradona in 1990. The street name ends with the words “de Deo” which means from God. Since his passing in 2020 the mural became home to a shrine. Photos, paintings, graffiti art and posters adorn the square now. Maradona, one of the most famous soccer stars the world has ever known, is also infamously known for a World Cup moment, called “The Hand of God” goal. In the 1986 cup quarter-finals, Maradona used the palm of his hand near his head to send the ball flying past England’s goalkeeper. It’s a moment most soccer fans and even the casual observer of the sport have never forgotten. It’s fitting that his shrine sits on a street from God.
“It sort of just grew into what it is now,” DiTanno says. “Different pieces of art were added through the years but now it’s a full square of artifacts and Maradona themed memorabilia. People come here from all over, but since COVID was deemed safe for travelers, this square has become an attraction. My father passed away years ago and mom recently. We had apartments right next to each other and while I was cleaning it out, I thought maybe people would be interested in renting it through travel apps and sites like Airbnb.
He was right. In the last year DiTanno has had visitors from all over the world who come to stay in the square and want to see Maradona’s shrine. Sometimes people spend all day just sitting in the square admiring it all. “He meant a lot to a lot of people,” DiTanno says. “He meant a lot to me.”
Clearly DiTanno is not alone. I was listening to one of my favorite soccer podcasts recently, hosted by Sam Adamo, an Italian-Canadian from Montreal (go figure). Sam and I have become casual friends over the last year because of our obsession of “calcio” which is just a fancy Italian word for soccer. Do you see that people of the world? We’re not the only country that calls it something other than FOOTBALL. Sam’s podcast is of course called “The Calcio Podcast” and you can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. I’ve even been a guest of the pod, having made 2 guest appearances.
Recently Sam had returned from a trip from Naples and on his podcast he proclaimed that there “seems to be an unhealthy relationship between the people of Napoli and Diego Maradona.” Sam’s claim was that it goes beyond hero worship and it feels as though he is looked at as some kind of religious figure, even a god. Before I wrote to him both privately and through public tweets, I thought about what he said and meant. From the outside looking in, it may look unhealthy but it goes way beyond an athlete playing for the city’s favorite team.
A little history on Maradona. He was considered the best player in the world for almost two decades. He was my introduction to the game as far as I’m concerned. As my family introduced me to soccer, we’d religiously watch Serie A matches every Sunday, Maradona had already come into his own in the late 70s and early 80s. I had never gotten to see Pele play but nor did most of the world. Most people didn’t see Pele play in his prime until the World Cup. Most of the world’s best players eventually leave their home nation and play in Europe, Pele never did that. So the only way to see him was international play with Brazil. Maradona was different. He played for the biggest team in Argentina, called the Boca Juniors and eventually was sold to one of the most well known teams in the world in Barcelona. His time in Spain was short, because 2 years later he would shock the world and sign for Serie A’s S.S.C. Napoli.
The minute Maradona stepped foot on Naples soil he might as well have achieved sainthood. For the people of Naples, it was never about what Maradona was going to do for them, it was a blind loyalty and following that was created the moment he chose them. Before signing Maradona, Naples’ soccer team had modest success. They had won a couple of tournaments since their creation in 1926 but were mainly a middle of the road team and by the time Maradona came to town they were barely hanging on having fought relegation battles. In their history Napoli had spent stretches in Italy’s second division.
Most southern Italian teams were middle of the road or bouncing up and down the divisions. Napoli was no different. The Northern Italian clubs is where all the best players wanted to play. Juventus, A.C. Milan, Inter Milan, Roma, Lazio, Genoa and Bologna. Those clubs were also the richest. So it surprised everyone that in 1984 Napoli did what no one thought they could do. Beat every other Serie A team, including La Liga’s Sevilla and Real Madrid’s for Maradona’s services.
Every team looking to buy Maradona from Barcelona all had a treasure chest of cash ready for him, so why play for a mediocre team with little success. Why buck the trend and go play for a southern little known city called Napoli? The legend goes: Maradona had snuck into Naples during the transfer talks and walked around the city. His upbringing was well known. He came from nothing and grew up in poverty until he signed with Boca Juniors at the age of 16. Maradona grew up in Lanus, an extremely poor section of Buenos Aires in Argentina. As he walked the streets of Naples he felt at home. He never liked the glitz and glamour of playing in Barcelona. He had felt like he didn’t belong. He missed being home, but going back to play in Argentina was not an option. Naples reminded him of growing up poor. He would later say “A lot of things reminded me of my origins. There had been hunger strikes and people had chained themselves to the fence at San Paolo stadium, begging me to come.”
San Paolo was a soccer mecca in the southern Italy. It was the largest stadium ever built in the southern region and one of Naples few draws. As most fans know in small poor towns all over the world, their soccer team is all they have. When their team plays an entire town or city shuts down and the stadiums are never empty. “Naples was a crazy city,” Maradona would go on to say after his playing days. “they were as crazy as me, soccer was life itself and thats why I wanted to be there.”
“Naples was a crazy city,” Maradona would go on to say after his playing days. “they were as crazy as me, soccer was life itself and thats why I wanted to be there.”
When most people think of Italy, they think of all the historical monuments still standing in Rome, or shopping in Milan’s fashion district, marveling at the statue of David in Florence. They think of the rich history, the Roman Empire and all of its innovation. Naples had none of that. They were a poor city just like Calabria to their immediate south, Cosenza, Lecce and of course any where in Sicily. To make the comparison, Naples was to Milan and Rome as Cleveland is to New York or Los Angeles. Naples was not on the level of Miami, Boston or Chicago. There was no tourism there, no jobs, no reason to be there at all. It was one of the last places people would visit. It may have been the birthplace of pizza, but the Northern cities claimed they made it better.
So Maradona returns to Barcelona after his visit and tells his lawyers make the deal with Napoli. His team of reps, family and friends all thought he was kidding. Even as rumors swirled that Maradona would do the unthinkable, people laughed it off. Clearly A.C. Milan or Juventus would never allow it to happen. How could this lowly team from the south beat out the 2 biggest and richest teams in the world? Maradona truly shocked everyone. His arrival in Serie A meant the entire world would get to see him play every week, unlike Pele in his prime. It also meant the world would see Napoli.
Going back to that Cleveland comparison, sure the city had Jim Brown and the Browns, the Cleveland Indians who were famous for being bad, but did you really know anything about Cleveland until LeBron James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers? It’s well documented what LeBron James did for the city of Cleveland. His mere presence had reinvigorated their economy and you didn’t know how much the city depended on their favorite son, until he left for Miami. In those years without him, it became a ghost town. Businesses shut down because less people visited the city. While LeBron put Cleveland back on the map for American sports fans and tourists, Maradona put Naples on the map to the entire world.
This was all before he even played a game. Within 3 years Maradona had delivered a league title and a national tournament title. He would eventually bring more silverware to the city throughout his career there. In 1986, I was 8 years old and really the first world cup I could remember and be fully invested in. Before the tournament I had been so fascinated with Maradona, I never realized he wasn’t Italian. I was a huge fan of the Italian National Team and I thought because Maradona played for Naples that made him Italian. It had to be explained to me that he was not Italian and could not play for the Italian National team. I remember being so confused and bummed out. This meant I had to root for him to lose in order for Italy to win. What a mind fuck!
Of course Maradona won the World Cup in 1986 and I found myself hiding my enthusiasm. His World Cup victory made him even more of an immortal in Naples. But that may have been where things went wrong. Maradona would eventually become addicted to narcotics. You could see his play slip, but he still would mesmerize fans despite his addiction. DiTanno admits his flaws made him more of an icon. “You would hear all the bad things he did and his issues with drugs, but that just made him even more endearing to everyone.”
DiTanno describes a city that wanted to root for a flawed character. “We are a mess of a city,” he says. “Maradona was a mess of a person, but still the greatest player in the world. I often feel that way about this city. We are one of the great cities in the world, but our people are flawed. We make mistakes. We lose, we get defeated. But we get back up. We work hard. Nothing comes natural for us. Maradona’s rise to his current status was because he gave himself to the city.”
Naples has always been a poor city. Throughout Europe, 99% percent of poor cities and towns all have one thing in common. Religion. You’ll find the most devout followers of catholicism in poor towns throughout southern Italy. In my own family, my mother worshipped Padre Pio. He was one of the last people to achieve sainthood before Mother Theresa. Pio was from Naples and was known not only for all the good he did, but for his flaws. There’s currently a film out starring Shia LeBeouf called PIO. Check it out for a better understanding of who he was. Walk into any home in Southern Italy, including Sicily and you’ll usually find some kind of portrait, small statue, drawing or photo of him in the house.
Let’s go back to Sam’s podcast. His claim was that the hero worship of Maradona in Naples seemed to be unhealthy. Here’s the other thing poor cities have in common: their sports teams. Where ever there is poverty, a middle class or a blue collar mentality you’ll find sports and religion. And in some cities sometimes their sports are their religion. Maradona certainly brought the two together.
Even after his playing days, no one ever seemed to come close to the type of player or person he was. Our current generation has brought us Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Lionel Messi, all whom have achieved greatness, but they have one thing missing. They didn’t choose the poor city.
Sam made his first visit to Naples since the pandemic. In the last 3 years the economy in the entire country has tanked. Leaving more people jobless than ever before. Italy is also one of the leading nations in taking on refugees. This has created an even greater need for healthcare and jobs. Some say that the economy is so bad it has set Naples back to the dark years. Pre-Maradona. But remember he had put the city officially on the map. Tourist would come from all over the world just to visit the city he chose to be part of. That meant its culinary strengths were discovered. Naples once again became the pizza capital of the world. The Amalfi Coast would be flooded with tourists every summer and it was because it was discovered by visitors coming to Naples. Maradona would vacation there too.
As Italy reopened, Naples welcomed back its tourism. “I think it happened just in time,” DiTanno says. “Any longer and I believe the city would have torn itself apart. We needed life again. We needed visitors.” As Covid harshest levels were starting to fall, it was announced that the most famous person to ever walk the streets of Naples had passed. “The square became some kind of religious home for Maradona,” DiTanno says. “Now that we are in full swing, I see people every day coming here from all over the world putting down a flower, lighting a candle and saying a prayer.”
Via Emanuele de Deo is not the only street that features murals of Maradona, there are hundreds of tributes around the city. I explained to Sam there really isn’t anything wrong with this. If you look at it from an outsider’s point of you Maradona breathed life into the city. He single handedly resuscitated the economy and for the first time ever tourists were coming to not only pay tribute to his murals, but to discover the pizza, the people, the region. Sam tells me they make stories and legends up about Maradona and pass it along to the younger generation. People do that with their Saints. They rarely ever talk about their flaws. To hear southern Italians talk about Pio, I wonder if they already believe the messiah has returned.
My mother explains that praying through Pio and with Pio, although his physical presence is gone, still feels like he brings them closer to God. I asked DiTanno what he thought of that. “Some people here, in this city do feel Maradona not only brought Naples the attention of the world, but also brought the attention of God,” he says. “I do believe they view him as a vessel. He did incredible things for a city that felt didn’t deserve it. He literally saved people just by being here. He created opportunity, joy and hope that a flawed person could one day be a Saint.”
When you look at it that way, what makes a Saint? It’s a selfless act or a series of selfless acts that benefited society and brought healing and strength to mankind. Kind of like choosing a city that needed Maradona most. It reminds me of one of my favorite books turned into a movie, ironically starring Shia LeBeouf. It’s called “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” written and directed by Dito Montiel. In it Dito takes us into a world where the flawed people in his life saved him and were his saints. If you haven’t seen it please do. Its one of the most underrated films of my generation and while its under appreciated anyone I have ever turned on to it understands why it’s so special. And I hope by reading this you’ll understand why Maradona was special and why sometimes sports can be religion.
