The former defender of Inter, Genoa and Toro: “I slept at Lucio’s house in Sovigliana, he is a very generous person as well as a great coach. I made Mazzone change his mind: he thought I was a butterfly, then he defined me as a great professional”
Collaborator
December 30 – 7.21pm – MILANO
We are republishing the interviews most appreciated by readers of the Gazzetta dello Sport in 2025. The one with Fabio Galante was published on 5 September.
Fabio Galante is a happy heart mixed with a gentle cheerfulness, a natural attitude that acts as background music to his daily life. He keeps the sun in his pocket, in the stickers – twenty years of faces, gelled curls and five different shirts – he often smiles, he says of himself that he is lucky “that if the Lord saw me one sad day he would drop a pole on my head and say to me: but what more do you want from life?”. His father and mother, Giovanni and Maria, had a sole factory in Monsummano Terme, the town where Fabio grew up, they made soles for shoes, he also went there to work as a boy and perhaps it is from there that he derives – as they say – the ability to keep his feet on the ground, the sense of discipline and the awareness that the truth of the shoe is not in the upper, but in the comfortable support that the sole offers it.
Gallant, you once said: “If I had been uglier I would have had a better career.” Upper, sole. Outside, inside. Aesthetics, substance. We always fall there. What people see of us, what we are.
“I said it, and there is a bit of truth. Yes, I was pretty, at the time I hung out with girls from the entertainment world, but on Sundays as soon as I made a mistake a step the poisons would start: who knows where Galante was last night. It’s hard to shake off labels, I always didn’t care, but certain comments hurt me. There was also envy. Once I phoned a journalist who had given me a 5 on my report card. I asked him to explain the rating to me and he replied: ‘But what do you care about a 5 with all the women you have?’ My arms have fallen, but what way is this to deal with?”.
“I played as a striker, I supported Inter. And I had a liking for Toro, because Ciccio Graziani was there. My father told me: ‘Look at how Graziani moves and copy him’. At fourteen I was in the Empoli youth team: it all started there.”
In Empoli you meet Spalletti.
“He was the veteran of the team, he acted as my big brother. He taught me everything. I slept for a long time at his house, in Sovigliana, with his mother Ilva. I love Lucio. He is an extraordinary coach and a special and very generous person.”
At twenty years old, Serie A with Genoa.
“I am still the highest paid player ever in Serie C. Spinelli paid over three billion lire, then sold me to Inter for three times more than Centofanti. I have always had a special relationship with ‘Sciù Aldo’, we were together for nine years, three in Genoa and six in Livorno. I imposed Alino Diamanti on him, I took him from C2 to A. He said to me: ‘Belin Fabio, but does this guy go to the disco?’ And I said: ‘True Pres, but think about what he could do if he didn’t go.’ So he took it. I was for Diamanti what Spalletti was for me.”
It was Scoglio who launched it.
“The Professor had his superstitions, he used slogans like “There are only 21 ways to take a corner”, but he was at the forefront. When he arrived in Maselli’s place halfway through the championship he said: ‘There are 18 games left, I’ve done the calculations: we’ll only lose 2, so we’ll save ourselves’. Well? He was right, we only lost two games, we saved ourselves in a big way.”
How were your three years at Inter?
“Beautiful, a squad with a unique coach, Gigi Simoni. In 1998 in Paris we won the UEFA Cup, the first trophy of the Moratti era. I had the privilege of playing with the strongest of all, the Phenomenon. In Moscow, with Spartak in the Cup, he scored a goal while dancing on the ice, he invented it from nothing. And we said: our schemes work, right Ronie? He was greedy for everything, food and life. Once upon a time I went to visit him in Madrid, in retirement, on the nightstand next to the bed he had dozens of chocolates, pastries, sweets. I said to him: Ronie, but tonight you have to play… And he, with his mouth full: wow… That evening he scored a brace”.
Mazzone gave him the best compliment, right?
“Yes, in Livorno he said publicly that he thought he was dealing with a butterfly, but instead he had found an exemplary professional. It was like a caress. After all, I have always gotten along well with the coaches, confirming my seriousness. With Camolese at Toro and in Livorno I got along very well: great competence, he got less than he deserved.”
Who was the strongest attacker you had to mark?
“Shall I list the strikers I came across? Batistuta, Sheva, Del Piero, Totti, Mancini, Vialli, Vieri, Inzaghi, Montella, Di Natale, Toni, Gilardino, Lucarelli… Pippo was incredible: it was the ball he was looking for, not the other way around.”
What were his qualities as a defender?
“I was clean in anticipation, good at heading and insertion, discreet in marking. And I took apart the opposing centre-forwards by talking to them during the phases of the game (laughs), I made them go crazy.”
Did you miss the national team?
“A little, maybe I could have played a few games, but I’m proud to be one of the three, me, Panucci and Cannavaro, to have won two European titles with the Under 21s.”
“I am brand ambassador of Inter and talent of the new Radio-tivù Serie A channel. I have been together with Francesca for ten years, she is a wonderful woman. We love to travel, we have also traveled around the world, from Japan to California. Ah, one last thing: soon we hope to expand the family…”.
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