Stefano Andreotti and the Lazio, a love at first sight. The second son of Giulio Andreotti, born in 1952, he has never hidden his great passion for the biancocelesti colours, certified by years of season ticket to the Olympic stadium. A passion that blossomed very early, at just five years old, and cultivated intensely up to the present day when Stefano, scarf around his neck, escorted by his son Giulio, sits in the Tevere Top Tribuna, from where he watches the home matches of his Lazio team. In the past he followed the Biancoceleste team even far from Rome. Stefano Andreotti has witnessed many Lazio victories, from Serie B to the most recent triumphs, including the historic championship of the Maestrelli band.
Your first time at the stadium?
It was a Lazio – Bologna match in 1958, Lazio lost by a narrow margin but a brace from the Brazilian Humberto Tozzi, in the final, allowed us to beat the Bolognese. That was the match that made me definitively fall in love with the Biancocelesti colours, the atmosphere of the stadium struck me immediately, I got my first membership card when I was twelve, and since then I have never missed a season ticket. If I preferred the white and blue colors to the yellow and red ones, the “credit” also goes to a cousin of mine, very much from Lazio, son of my father’s brother. However, with dad there were absolutely no problems in this respect, we limited ourselves only to some nice teasing during the derbies, many of which we experienced together at the stadium. I visited practically the entire Olympic stadium, from Monte Mario to the Curva Nord up to the Tribuna Tevere, my sweet home for years now.
The best memories of many years of militancy at the stadium?
There are several. Above all, the two championships, especially the second, which was achieved in truly surreal circumstances. Then, going back, the late goal from my idol Re Cecconi which decided a pulsating Lazio – Milan of ’74 and the 3-0 given to Zoff’s Juve thanks to the exploits of Bruno Giordano. I then experienced other epic challenges at the Flaminio stadium. In addition, obviously, to the historic derby on May 26th…
A man from Lazio who grew up with a father who wasn’t exactly inclined towards the Biancocelesti colours…
True, dad was a Roma fan. When he was very young he lived in the centre, a stone’s throw from Montecitorio, where there was a trattoria where some Giallorossi footballers sometimes stopped for lunch. Dad told me that he often exchanged a few dribbles with them in Vicolo Valdina. Then he told me about the matches at the legendary Campo Testaccio. During the Piombo years, for obvious reasons, he moved away from the stadium and then set foot back there for the 1990 World Cup. In any case, he wasn’t a football fanatic like I am, a passion that I passed on to my son Giulio.
His father, among many things, also gave a great boost to sport…
Certainly. Let’s not forget that in 1947, very young, at the dawn of his very long political experience, he was appointed by De Gasperi as undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council, with responsibilities for Cinema and Sport. In that capacity he worked, together with the then president of CONI, the lawyer Giulio Onesti, to ensure that the Totocalcio ticket, which financed sport in Italy, was nationalized. Then he was the great organizer of the 1960 Rome Olympics, which offered a decidedly renewed image of the capital and our country compared to the disaster left by the Second World War.
Besides politics, what were your father’s other great passions?
Horse racing and football. Since he was young, dad used to frequent the racecourses, those of Villa Glori (in the area of the current Flaminio stadium) and Tor di Valle. The horses amused him a lot, he even bet small amounts.
The leader of the DC was a great protagonist of the First Republic. How much has politics changed since your father’s time?
Society has changed radically. If he were still alive, my father would criticize two aspects of today’s political universe. The first, also highlighted by many, is the lack of preparation. Political training schools have inevitably disappeared, young people are no longer molded, once upon a time the apprenticeship was almost physiological, today many people belonging to other contexts are recklessly lent to politics, and the results are there for all to see. Another thing that dad wouldn’t like is this increasingly frequent propensity to invective, to ferocious controversy, to gratuitous accusation. There is a lack of respect, dad would definitely not recognize himself in this world.
What family was yours?
My father’s greatest pride was that of having built, to put it in his way, a healthy normal family where politics played little role.
Have you ever thought about following in your father’s footsteps?
Absolutely not, I have always been careful about it, like my brother and two sisters. We made different choices, each of us undertook the professional path that best suited our respective inclinations. I, for example, worked for over 40 years in a large company like Siemens, of which I became director. An experience that enriched me and allowed me to get to know many realities. If I had entered political life, by virtue of the important surname I bear, I might have had a career, but frankly I was only interested in leveraging my abilities.
An extraordinary career with many lights but also some shadows…
Dad suffered a lot during the period in which he was involved in the various trials, a very sad page that affected not only him but also the rest of our family. Then the Moro murder, during which he was Prime Minister, and the massacre of his escort. The biggest wound for dad, beyond the ignoble controversies that still hold sway today. I lived with my father those dramatic days of 1978, I still lived with my parents in the house on Corso Vittorio, dad didn’t deserve to suffer like this.
Let’s go back to Lazio: what memories do you have of that famous 12 May 1974?
I was at the stadium as always. An exciting day, the climate was fantastic with all those white and blue flags around. It was an extraordinary emotion. After the final whistle we all poured into the streets of Rome where we celebrated until dawn.
How do you imagine the Lazio of the future?
The club has solid foundations, football has changed a lot compared to many years ago when there was no income from television rights. The worst is behind us, Lazio today can firmly establish itself among the greats of our football. The scudetto seems like a pipe dream, but we have a duty to achieve important goals anyway.
