34 Years Later, Pisa SC Return to the Tuscany Derby

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Dispatch: a series dedicated to immersive storytelling, where our photographers and writers journey to chosen places, combining evocative imagery with long-form editorials to uncover and share unique football cultures.

34 Years Later, Pisa SC Return to the Tuscany Derby

Words by Fay Harvey
Photography by Lorenzo Gargiulo

October 4, 2025

PISA, Italy — When construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa commenced in 1173, all was going to plan— until Italian Architect Bonanno Pisano began the third floor.

As the white, marble tower rich with Romanesque columns and intricate detail grew in height, he noticed an eastern lean in the belfry’s body. It is said by Italian artist Giorgi Vasari in his 16th-century book Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architetti, that Bonanno and his team had “little knowledge of foundations in Pisa and […] before they reached the building halfway, it inclined to one side, so that said said belfry leans six and a half armslengths from its vertical,” he writes. Thus, the iconic slant was born.

Despite this foundational issue, many building breaks and plenty of restructurings — construction stopped for an entire century after the initial lean was noticed when inter-city Italian war broke out, coincidentally allowing the tower to settle and prevent future collapse, before halting once more and topping out in 1372 — the tower still stands today and is seen by many as an honorary Wonder of the World for its apparent defiance of gravity.

Sat in the religious complex of Pisa’s Piazza dei Miracoli (the Plaza of Miracles) in Dumo Square, the tower is a cultural hotspot, a lighthouse for visitors from abroad. Tourists flood the grounds for an optical illusion style photo, aligning themselves perfectly beside the tower. The shutter snaps and the image results in miniature people looking as if the massive building beside them.

But of course the tower stands to be more than just a photo opp, it at one point was a true divine timekeeper. At the top of the 296-step monument sit seven massive bells, each ringing off a unique musical note for the nearby Catholic church when operated via a rope system, but now done electronically.

In 1990, before the turn of the century, the tower temporarily closed its doors to the public after discovering that it had been slowly subsiding 0.05 inches a year, leading officials to take measures into their own hands. The heavy bells were silenced so as to not irritate the foundation with the heavy swinging, doors were closed to visitors that may cause a capsizing of the tower, and the Piazza dei Miracoli was missing its crown jewel after centuries of dazzling the public for over a decade.

Simultaneously, just 300 meters away, a similar story of closure, loss and an unknown future was beginning; but it didn’t have to do with another monument, this story was manifesting in a local football club.

While the Leaning Tower shut its doors to find stability and solidify their grounding, Pisa Sporting Club — the local Tuscany club founded in 1909 by a group of young students — sought to find similar resilience as it embarked on what would be the last Serie A campaign the Nerazzurri side would see until 2025.

Leading up to this moment of despair in the early 1990s, the world saw Pisa SC coming off times both so turbulent yet equally euphoric that they were deemed the “Elevator Team” under Il Presidentissimo, Romeo Anconetani, Pisa’s owner from 1978 to 1994. Longtime football businessman, with impressive work done at both Empoli FC and AC Prato yet with a history of match fixing which led him to be banned from working as a director in the Italian Football League, Anconetani’s impact and explosive attitude was felt instantly at the club as he led Pisa SC to promotion into Serie C, and then to Serie A just five years later, marking the 1980s as a golden era for the Tuscan club (despite being promoted the following year in 1983).

While, yes, he was called a Manager Eater — in 16 seasons, 22 managers were seen and sacked —, attempted to merge the club with rivals Livorno and make a merge titled Pisorno (which was highly protested), and often dumped pounds of salt onto pitches before matches due to his superstitious beliefs, Anconetani was no doubt Pisa SC’s treasure. From his knowledge on exactly who to sign in tight transfer windows with hours to spare, including El Cholo, Argentine player-gone-manager Diego Simeone and Italian striker Michele Padovano, to his journalistic background great enough to have his own TV segment on Canale 5 called Let’s Talk to Romeo, he was highly cherished in Pisa’s world, bringing the club six Serie A and nine Serie B tournaments alongside 2 Mitropa Cups.

In an archival interview from this era, Anconetani is asked how he is able to run a full team without big finances and big sponsors. His response?: “You have to be intelligent and strong like me.”

However, the 1990/91 Serie A season proved to be the ultimate test for the Pisa president’s rebellious confidence.

Stacked with stars such as Henrik Lasen hailing from Denmark, Aldo Dolcetti, Lombardi Piovanelli and Simeone while under the management of Mircea Lucescu, the early 90s campaign had a promising start with triumphs over both Inter Milan and U.S. Lecce – the latter match being a showcase for Simeone’s talent where he juggled the ball over the Lecce defender to gracefully place the ball in the back of the net off a self volley. At this point in the year, fans and pundits spoke of Pisa as a future Scudetto title holder.

But as if the foundation under the Leaning Tower was sending shockwaves to the stadium’s pitch, Pisa’s record became shaky after three consecutive losses, including a 4-0 loss to fellow Tuscany Club and rivals Fiorentina on October 7, 1990. A few months later as December came around, Pisa lost Lamberto Piovanelli who had been an integral asset to Pisa, having scored their decisive goal for promotion in 1987 and additionally scored 8 goals in his 16 matches played in this 1990 season. The injury sealed their fate for relegation as they entered the second half of the season in uncertain shape and, as if a mirror was held up to the club, they once again lost to Fiorentina 0-4.

After this away loss at Fiorentina’s Stadio Comunale, now called the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Anconetani told a reporter they were lucky to lose by four, because it should have been a deficit of six based on the poor performance. “Our 11 sheep were out there running and grazing around … I was ashamed to be sitting in the stands representing Pisa,” the President said.

In May 1991 during Pisa’s final match of the season against Roma, the stands were more empty than usual as fans protested the crumbling of their season. The supporters who did go were seething in the stands and acted passionately following the 0-1 loss; the cries of Forza Pisa Porta Pisa quiet in comparison to the utterances of the hopeless fans.

In the 34 years since this moment of defeat, the club has seen a lot: bankruptcies, the pits of Serie D, the loss of Anconetani, a German Shepard as honorary club president in 2002, two name changes and over three crest changes; but most recently, the club has earned a spot back in Serie A after a dominating Serie B performance in the 2024/25 season with leadership from Pippo Inzaghi, ½ of the dynamic brother duo.

While many aspects of the club have undergone these dramatic shifts, the fans have remained steadfast in their loyalty for their black-and-blue club. When promotion to the top flight was solidified in May of this year, the streets of the old port city were turned upside down as supporters gathered to celebrate the moment they've been wishing for over the past decades with scarves on necks and flags in hand. During the celebrations, fireworks shot off in the sky as the historic buildings shined below them, illuminated by the red flares and warm street lights.

Most anticipated thus far in the start of the 2025/26 season was the return of the Derby Toscana against Fiorentina. Last week, on September 28, the city came alive to watch their side make up for lost time.

Photographer Lorenzo Gargiulo had never been to Pisa until the day the two Tuscan teams met once again in Serie A. Based in Rome, he took a train the night before the match to settle in and understand the coastal town before waking up on match day to a palpable mix of anxiety and excitement from the locals.

As he walked around the Piazza the morning of the derby, he saw Ultras putting final touches on their choreography, generations of fans mixing with their old and new kits, and young kids preparing their ginormous totems in preparation for their upcoming 90+ minute arm workout of waving the flags. While everyone was welcoming and eager to speak about their love for the club, Lorenzo nonetheless compared the feeling in the air to one thing: war.

“[The Pisani] told me this match meant much more to them than the derby against Livorno,” Lorenzo explained to me, translating a video he took of two older best friends that stood against a cobble stone wall under the Italian sun emphasizing to the camera how it's been 34 long years since this moment. The two anxious men predicted success coming their way. “The atmosphere was like they’re going into battle.”

In the heart of the city next to flats, cathedrals, bars and cafes sits Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani (recently named Cetilar arena) where the match was set to take place. The brutalist-style structure, inaugurated in 1919, has stayed relatively the same in look and size since its inception, unlike so many other aspects of Pisa SC. A smaller, bowl-like structure, the sounds of cheering and talking swarm around the stadium, trapping sound and pushing out the sounds of the bustling city on the other side of the wall where the Leaning Tower peaks into the periphery.

Throughout the match, Lorenzo floated around the stadium, from a short stay in the Curva Nord alongside the ultras to standing with his fellow photographers on the pitchside. Through his lens, he captured fans of all ages lost in the moment that the city has yearned for since 1991. Young fans climbed on nearby walls, while the crowds in the distance looked like an amalgamation of limbs wrapped up in pops of black and blue.

“I think it was really beautiful … there’s a special connection between Pisa and the people, and I didn’t think about that until I was there,” Lorenzo described. After years of supporting Inter Milan and immersing himself in the highs of Serie A, he hadn’t considered how the same level of fandom and devotion would present itself at a club just now returning to the top league, but seeing the passion from the patient fans, it clicked. “It was a really nice experience.”

After a contentious match and a Pisa goal ruled offside by VAR, the two Tuscan sides walked away winless, with Fiorentina’s goalless streak continuing.

Thinking about the Pisani in this moment, I felt a tinge of sadness. After preparing this piece for days and reflecting on the club’s longwinded history, I was looking forward to writing a Cinderella story of sorts: “After Almost Three-and-a-Half Decades, the Tower Leans Over the Violas in a Monstrous 4-0 Pisa Win,” was the headline I hoped to write.

But as I looked at Lorenzo’s photos and saw the smiles on the fans' faces and the unity in the stands, I understood that this match was less about the score, and more about the moment.

The future of Pisa SC is still uncertain. At the time I write this, the club is in the bottom third; the red relegation line is parallel to their crest as they’ve yet to walk off a single Italian pitch victorious this season. But if we take note from history, solidifying your ground takes time, and rebuilding can take even longer. Whether it’s the fate of their football club or the local monuments, what the Pisani have mastered for sure is the feeling of patience; and afterall, it is a virtue.

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