Italian Club Atalanta Fined For ‘Racist’ At Fiorentina Owner

Italian club Atalanta have been fined €12 000 after their fans directed what have been termed “territorially offensive” chants at Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso.

Serie A officials said that the club had been fined for the chanting which made jest of Commisso’s southern Italian origins during the team’s 1-0 win over Fiorentina over the weekend.

However, Fiorentina have described the chants as racist and are unlikely to be satisfied with the fine as they demanded “severe punishment” for a “shameful episode”.

The Florence club general manager Joe Barone said: “Not only does the league have to intervene but also CONI (Italy’s Olympic committee) and the government.”

Commisso, 72, was born in Calabria on Italy’s toe but while still a child moved to New York City, where he eventually became an American citizen and a wealthy media magnate.

In Italy chants against southerners are taken as seriously as racial abuse of black people due to the history of discrimination against them in Italy’s wealthier northern areas such as Bergamo where Atalanta are based.