Grazie Roma

...or so the cheer goes, when the AS Roma soccer team wins their game, as they did last night - and we were there!

The soccer stadium is a beautiful thing, especially at night. As Sam, 2 co-workers of mine and I approached the stadium, the one Roman with us was full of warnings and stories about riots and wild fans and rules about what to do and what not to do in case of riots or violence at the stadium. The opposing team, Atalanta, is famous for their rabid fans and their rivalry against Roma, so even though this was not an important game, anything could happen.

It appeared foggy as we approached - but upon opening the car window we realized it was smoke and not fog. From what, though??

As we walked into our section, security made me remove and give up the cap to my water bottle. This was to prevent me from throwing it.

And as we found our seats, we saw ALL the Atalanta fans quarantined like sheep in this one section, next to our section, surrounded by the riot squad. This was going to be fun!!!

Atalanta scored first, which ignited total chaos in their section - objects (such as flares - hence the smoke) were flying everywhere betweenour sections and my ears were buzzing from all the cheers, chants and excitement.

But in the end, superstar Totti saved the day - again - scoring on both of his penalty kicks:

...after which he performed his usual celebratory gesture of sucking his thumb, in honor of his new and expected babies...

It was a fabulous night - so thrilling!! I want to try to follow Italian soccer more closely now, especially since Roma is in 2nd place, and because next weekend there is the Derby - the 2 Rome teams (Roma and Lazio) play one another! I will be staying far far away from the stadium then.

I think this was the highlight of Sam's trip thus far. Mostly we've been walking around, chatting, drinking wine, comparing cultures and food and taking it easy. Today we are resting up after our night of celebration and then heading to the Christmas Market in Piazza Navona - I think I might need to buy myself a Roma jersey while there....

(all photos are Reuters copyright)