The weather these days in Ibiza is fantastic: full sun but not too hot. Temperatures in the shade never rise above 30 degrees but at night never fall below 20, making the return from the disco pleasant, even with a few too many drinks to work off. It is no coincidence that it is one of the best places for holidays and for professional footballers’ socials: beaches, go-go dancers, tattoos and a few quotes from Coelho.
However, our Tommaso Berti was not in Ibiza yesterday. It wasn’t even in Formentera or Mykonos or Papeete. No, he was on the Barbotto – a mountain that for us from Romagna is almost as sacred as Fuji is for the Japanese – awaiting the passage of the Tour de France, in a French descent equal in importance only to that of Napoleon in 1797. Berti had no tattoos to show off – unlike the ones designed by our national team that have shamed an entire country – but he was wearing a white t-shirt with red polka dotssymbol of the record in the mountain grand prix ranking in the yellow race.
Berti was on that sacred mountain – hardly a person from Romagna can call himself such if he has never climbed it or has never gone there to watch the passing of the Nove Colli or the Giro – precisely where Marco Pantani’s fans gathered. Yes, Berti has always been a huge fan of the pirate.
During the long holidays Berti did not gain weight nor did he indulge in an uncontrolled and unhealthy diet: he chose to have fun with his old friends with a great passion for cycling. They climbed Pordoi and Marmolada, they went to the Dolomites to watch the Giro transit, he put hundreds and hundreds of kilometers in his legs. And that, yes, he put that on social media. That sweat, that effort, that passion that makes him the favorite son of Romagna.
In a period in which his companions are divided between those who are cashing in on the Arctic to receive a severance pay and follow maestro Toscano to Catania and those who are tormenting the Juventus sporting director for swear that they, no, were not part of the Toscano clan and therefore can remain in Romagna: Tommaso Berti represents an exception to all this.
These days, awaiting the arrival of a general manager, the anarchy in the black and white house is great. Toscano’s departure caused the explosion of a group that the Calabrian coach had shaped in his image and likeness and the Arctic alone is bending over backwards, waiting to receive some support from the USA, to rebuild everything from scratch. It is therefore very clear why Tommaso Berti is an exception not only in a team of failed photo models tattooed from head to toe like the Juventus team but in the whole world of football in general.
Berti’s controversy when he was removed, without too many compliments, from Cesena to Florence? Zero. Berti controversy when he returned and proved decisive? Zero. Berti controversy when he scored against Rimini under the Curva Mare? Zero.
Tommaso Berti is a white fly in a mephitic, false and vain environment. Tommaso Berti represents Cesena and Romagna. Tommaso Berti is our pride because he is the favorite son of our land. And in our ideal Romagna world, the captain’s armband next year would be a deal between him and Ciofi.
