How Alessandro Florenzi proved that Italian football dreams can come true

Italian international Alessandro Florenzi was 18 months old when he first kicked a football.

By 10, he was pretending to be Francesco Totti in the playground.

A year later he was playing for Roma’s U12 side.

If football has always been a part of his life, then Roma has always been his passion.

This is an interview about how a young boy dreamed about playing for his hometown club — and made it happen.

Tell us about your childhood…

“I had a happy childhood. I was lucky to have two parents and a brother who loved me. I grew up in the outskirts of Rome in a suburb called Vitinia. My first memories are of my family… and football! All I needed was a ball at my feet and I was happy.”

How old were you when you discovered AS Roma existed?

“I think I must have been four or five when I first started watching games on TV with my dad. That’s when I began to understand what football was all about, the rules and who that team in yellow and red was.”

Was your family passionate about football?

“We’re a family of football lovers. My dad used to play football — not at the very top level but he made it up to Promozione [Italy’s sixth tier]. It was a higher level back in his day, almost on a par with the Lega Pro [third tier] of today. My brother played too, for Cassino, but then he stopped.”

Did anyone in your extended family ever try and convince you to support Lazio?

“Actually a friend of mine tried to. He was called Alessandro and we went to primary school together. My dad had already pushed me in the right direction but spending all day with each other at school, Alessandro tried to convert me. He was convincing too, but I ended up fending him off and staying a Roma fan.”

As a child, did you watch matches on television or go to the Stadio Olimpico?

“I first started learning about football and Roma while playing outside my house and watching games on TV at a very young age. Then when I was about five or six — I don’t remember when exactly — my dad started taking me to the Olimpico. I can’t remember the first match I ever saw at the stadium but I remember other things from that day, like all the people at the ground, the players and the green pitch.”

How old were you when you first started kicking a ball?

“A year and a half. I fell in love with the game very early on, as soon as I learned to walk. I remember I used to play indoors because we didn’t have a garden. The only person who as a bit less happy was my mum because I broke a few things around the house.”

Who was the first player you can remember trying to emulate in the school playground?

“There were the usual famous names when we played outside or at school and of course being in the capital, Francesco Totti was the most popular of the lot. I was 10 when Roma won the title in 2001. Then when I grew up and started playing for teams, Cesc Fabregas was my idol — I thought he was a magnificent player.”