EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 99
stickers: 50 postcards size 10 x 15
album: distributed with the Corriere di Bologna on 21 December 2019
packets 0,99€ + Corriere di Bologna, 9 issues until February 2020
comment: it’s always Basket City! Corriere di Bologna (Corriere della Sera) celebrates the return of the derby of the Italian capital of basketball in Serie A1 with 2 celebratory albums, this is the one dedicated to Fortitudo. An appreciable choice compared to the one made many years ago by Repubblica, which put the two teams together with a certain regurgitation from both supporters.
The Bologna derby is also felt in the world of stickers!
The album is really well made and cared for, 50 figurine (stickers) seem few, but in reality a deeper analysis makes their beautiful .. figure (sorry for the italian word game). In fact, these are postcard size 10×15 stickers, so much so that they might not even seem adhesive, given the quality and thickness.
As it is right that ample emphasis is given not only to sporting deeds, but to the uniqueness of Fortitudo and its people, a team so viscerally loved by many fans, not only from Bologna, although only for a short period it has been a winning club .
“Poor but beautiful”, the first part of the album is very romantic in the years from 1961 to 1977, the arrival in Serie A of 1966 and Gary Baron Shull, an idol still today and a symbol of that Fortitudo pride enough to name the curve hotter than supporters. Sticker number 4, brought with him in bloody triumph after a heated derby against the rich cousins, alone is worth the purchase of the album.
Second part of the album entirely dedicated to the 80s, even the sponsors become epic enough to be remembered today: Mercury, I&B, Latte Sole, Yoga. It is the period of the “Fortitudo elevator” which often goes up and down from A1 to A2 and vice versa. These are the golden years of supporters, although not a winner, this working team gathers many fans especially among the youngest, bringing it to the center of attention of Italian basketball for the warmth and love of its people, more than for the results on the field.
The 80s end with two great satisfactions against Virtus, overtaking in an unforgettable derby in the playoffs (April 13, 1988) and a -32 “the big chill” (March 5, 1989), celebrated in shirts that have become the object of the years collectible.
The 90s, the next part of the album, are introduced with the sticker of Teo Alibegovic, savior of Fortitudo one step away from relegation, thanks to a monumental game won in Reggio Emilia, which saves the team and lays the foundations for what will be in the years to come. These are incredible years in Bologna, two very strong teams that are the same and that present great champions on the field, many of which then became even bigger in the NBA.
The happy ordeal at Fortitudo begins, suffering for all hearts F with a series of defeats in the playoff finals, the first in 1996, but also with the great victory in the 1998 Italian Cup.
In the fourth part of the album, before the stickers celebrating the first historic championship of 2000, the number 31 is undeniable the most original of the album: it takes up a famous choreography of the Fossa Dei Leoni (the ultras group born in 1970) before a derby, the symbol of the other team from Bologna, a large V not black but pink (we will post the sticker here and on facebook as soon as it comes out, impossible to describe it better).
The end of the album is a hard and pure Fortitudo spirit, the club experiences ten years of great economic problems that make it disappear, only to be reborn from the minor divisions as a club from scratch, the privileged way by acquiring the sports law of another club is rejected by its people. Ten long years, ended on March 31, 2019 with the return to A1.
The Eagle has returned to fly, in reality it had never stopped.
Splendid album, as well as the one made on Virtus, is a pleasure for all basketball fans. Historical photos thanks to the Fortitudo archive, RCS and the Bologna Film Library.
Album that exudes pride in every page and stickers.
Final judgment: 10/10
(EN)