Venezia play in the third tier of Italian football in a ground that was built in 1913 but their ambitious owners, manager and captain are set on reaching Serie A

When you think about Italian football’s storied past, the great clubs from Milan, Turin, Naples and Rome come to mind. Conspicuously absent from this list of cities is Venice. The sport has rarely thrived in one of the world’s most beautiful places. After years of financial difficulties, Venezia FC are currently in the regionalised Lega Pro, the third tier of Italian football. But progress is on the horizon. The club has been taken over by an ambitious group of American investors who are determined to take Venezia back to Serie A for the first time in a generation.

The man leading the charge is Joe Tacopina, a celebrity attorney who says he wants to build a sustainable future for the club. Tacopina has history in the Italian game, having brought the first American ownership group to Roma before moving on to Bologna, but Venezia is his biggest challenge yet.

Icardi and Banega net hat-tricks as Inter put seven past Atalanta in Serie A Read more

Tacopina faces a few considerable obstacles. Venezia are top of the league after six wins in a row but they are competing against fallen giants Parma for the one automatic promotion place available this season. They have to upgrade their stadium, the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, which was built in 1913 and is mainly accessible by boat. And they have to unite a sceptical fanbase that has grown disenchanted after years of mismanagement at the club.

To rebuild the club’s stature and take them up the divisions, Tacopina has hired some famous names. He has appointed Giorgio Perinetti – a man who has worked at Juventus, Roma and Napoli – as the club’s sporting director and, in a real coup for Venezia, he has hired World Cup and Champions League winner Filippo Inzaghi as manager. On the business side, Tacopina’s team of Venetians and Americans are trying to find a balance between honouring the traditions and history of the club while moving things forward with a modern American sports business model.

With all of these pieces falling into place, Venezia are battling to win promotion this season and then set their sights on Serie A. We went to Venice to speak to Tacopina, Inzaghi and his players about their dream of making the floating city a football city.

Follow KICK on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter