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There's a Roma fan who has experienced many eras of the club, who has followed the Giallorossi across Europe, who was upheld as an example of Romanismo by Dino Viola and whose legend has been chronicled in newspapers. This is the story of ‘Maracana’.
His real name is Gaetano Giuffre. Nowadays he walks with a cane and is certified disabled. Giuffre is 75 years old and has been living in Patti, in the province of Messina, for 13 years, but there was a time when he lived in Rome. Or rather, he lived in Roma. He attended every match, followed the team home and away and never missed a day of the team’s training camps. What’s more, he was among the last to say goodbye to Luisa Petrucci, the legendary umbrella-wielding fan, the ‘mother’ of the Curva Sud.
"Back in the 1960s I was a singer," recalled Giuffre. "I came to Rome for auditions with RCA (a now-defunct legendary record label, ed.). The director at the time, Ettore Zeppegno, a dyed-in-the-wool Juventus fan, wanted to take me to see a Roma v Juve match, not knowing I was a Roma supporter. I'd been following Roma since I was 13, even though I lived in Sicily. I think he regrets inviting me along! That's how I started frequenting the Olimpico."
How the Maracana nickname came to be
Gaetano is more than just a match-goer. He's more than just an ordinary football fan. He doesn’t differentiate between home and away – he follows Roma both at the Olimpico and further afield, come rain or shine, in league matches, cup fixtures and friendlies. "One day, Corriere dello Sport wrote an article about me titled 'And they started calling him Maracana.'" Gaetano recalls that his fellow fans in the Curva Sud bestowed him with this sobriquet.
"When Roma won the Scudetto in 1983 I never missed a match and was among the club’s most passionate and vocal fans. As my fandom was akin to the Brazilian ‘torcida’, my fellow supporters started calling me Maracana. Nobody knew me as Gaetano or Gianni, my stage name."
It’s hard to believe it’s all true. But among the witnesses is none other than the unforgettable Giallorossi voice of “Professor” Fulvio Stinchelli!
From the stands to Dino Viola
Maracana was such a colourful character that the club itself took notice of him. "President Dino Viola called me a die-hard fan and upheld me as an example to follow. I attended shareholder meetings and I was able to travel with the players and sleep in their hotel, without ever bothering anyone with requests for autographs and shirts.
"I was there from the first day of the training camp until the last friendly match, which was held abroad, following the conclusion of the season. I travelled by car to most of the games, even if Roma were playing abroad. Otherwise, I went on trips organised by Nilo Iosa [the president of Personal Jet Roma and one of the founders of the Unione Tifosi Romanisti, ed.]. This special relationship continued even under Franco Sensi’s presidency."
Alicicco steps up to the plate
Maracana has plenty of anecdotes, and there's one that's particularly entertaining. "There was this time that Roma had a friendly match in Kyiv. Four other fans and I were invited by the club to go along to the game aboard a Ukrainian national airline. Dr. Ernesto Alicicco had predicted that the food wouldn't be the best, so we set off with a lot of Italian products in tow: penne, spaghetti, a wheel of parmesan and much more besides.
"When we arrived at the hotel, we noticed that the spaghetti had disappeared. We're talking about the 1980s here. But Alicicco (Roma's longtime team doctor, who passed away on 17 September 2024) didn't lose heart: he put on an apron and got stuck into cooking for everyone! I got up and went to take a peek in the kitchen. Alicicco was sweating over the stove, and the Ukrainian chefs at the hotel were staring at him in awe."
"Mamma" Luisa
"Luisa Petrucci and I became great friends during a Roma training camp," explains Gaetano. We travelled together on every away trip. We were so close that I chose her as my godmother for my confirmation. You could say we were really close friends. A couple of days before she passed away she made all her relatives leave her room she was in. She wanted to be alone with me.
"Luisa was in tears. She knew she was close to the end and confessed to me that her greatest regret was never being able to see our Roma again. She didn't want anyone else to see her in that condition."
His final wish
Maracana now has a dream. "Due to my illness, I've spent thousands of euros in recent years on tests and therapies. I'm disabled, but I'd like to see Roma at the Olimpico one final time, instead of crying over watching the team on TV, the tears because I’m not able to be there, with the Roma fans, cheering on our team."
Gaetano ‘Maracana’ Giuffra is the latest fan account as part of asroma.com’s journey among long-standing Giallorossi fans.
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