Klaxons, maniacal mopeds and pets wearing face-masks as Napoli coronation is dedicated to Maradona  

Far from the madness of the Fuorigrotta district near the stadium, where the car horns, the maniacal moped riders and the fog of blue torch smoke transported you to the epicenter of delirium, a craftsman in the cobbled streets of the Quartieri Spagnoli told a deeper story of Napoli’s coronation as champion of Italy.

Genny Di Virgilio makes figurines for nativity scenes and the family business has long been thriving, although they turned their minds to producing little Diego Maradona pieces as Napoli approached the Serie A title. The Maradonas now sell better than Jesus.

The title, secured mid-week with a draw against Udinese, means the world to so many in the football-obsessed city and is dedicated to the man who led them to their last, 33 years ago.

Maradona adopted the city and the team at a time when the rest of Italy was humiliating it, in 1984, and when he left seven years later, there were attempts by some outside Naples to humiliate him, with rumors of drug use and ties to the local Camorra. mafia.

“It was the bitterness of those who could not accept that our poor city and our humble team won through it,” said Alessia Giuliani, a supporter on his way to see the Fiorentina team play at the stadium that was named after his death three years ago.

Supporters filled the Diego Maradona stadium ahead of the meeting with Fiorentina

Maradona remains a huge figure in Napoli 32 years after he left the Serie A club

A dog is seen wearing a mask on Victor Osimhen’s during the gameplay

Reclaiming the Serie A title has become a form of commemoration for the man whose stadium mural on Sunday was simply emblazoned with the word: ‘Love’.

‘This is for him. He is an emblem of our people. Napoli was in his soul,” says Alessandro Catalano, in Pallonetto near the coast, where blue lights illuminate the citadels since Thursday’s 1-1 draw at Udinese.

The sense of justification transcends Maradona, whose significance to the city and lasting impact are best captured in Paolo Sorrentino’s unforgettable autobiographical film E stata la mano di Dio (‘The Hand of God’).

Naples has never forgotten the disgusting banners and chants about the 1973 cholera epidemic that greeted the team for years in Italy’s wealthy northern cities.

Maradona knew that Naples was marginalized. “I felt like I was representing a part of Italy that counted for nothing,” he said years later.

Given that history, justification has been particularly sweet in recent days. Juventus were 14 points behind even before Napoli played Fiorentina on Sunday after being caught up in a financial scandal that saw them pull in 15 points – later reversed (for now).

Striker Victor Osimhen led Napoli’s title run with 23 goals in 28 league matches

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been a revelation since his move to the club last summer

Counterfeit coffins depicting the Juventus team were carried around Naples on Saturday. Banners with the message ‘Juventus Merda’ have been hoisted to the balconies.

While the two Milan giants are also beset by debt, Napoli have thrived on patient and intelligent methodology, bringing in players the Serie A giants ignored and developed.

It’s been a new kind of glory. Maradona was the totemic presence in a Napoli team that was crowned Serie A champions in 1987 and 1990, having arrived in the Italian south following an ignominious departure from Barcelona. Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli is a collective. A team of all talents.

The new heroes are Nigerian Victor Osimhen, whose signature face mask explains why adults, children and even pets wore the accessory in the Quartieri Spagnoli.

Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been signed for less than £15 million and Stanislav Lobotka, a Slovak from Celta Vigo. “It is a professional and sustainable model that Juventus can explore and learn well,” says Catalano.

Analysts see this the same way. “In Naples, the idea that all beautiful things are a miracle is ephemeral,” journalist Angelo Carotenuto told the Financial Times over the weekend.

‘Here Naples won with a European footprint: a business plan, a project, an organization. It’s not Neapolitan improvisation – just one big player and then bankrupt.’

Even in the midst of the new order, there was an element of chaos. Under the cover of Thursday night’s wild title celebrations, the 26-year-old son of a mob boss was shot dead in the Ponticelli district, where a feud between clans is raging.

Napoli’s last league title was captained by the great Maradona in a memorable 1989-90 season

Napoli fans took to the streets on Thursday evening to celebrate after the title was secured

Gaetano Manfredi, the mayor of Naples, told a local radio station that the incident was linked to “dynamics that have nothing to do with the festivities, it was probably a settlement of accounts that benefited from the party.”

But nothing can cloud this unparalleled moment. Every available mode of transport – even a small wheeled boat – has been commandeered to whiz supporters through the historic town’s narrow streets and those on foot posed yesterday alongside life-sized cardboard models of Maradona, Spalletti and Osimhen casually walking in the cobbled streets. streets were placed. streets of the old quarter.

The game against Fiorentina, which Napoli won 1-0 through an Osimhen penalty, was not a classic, but fireworks lit up the sky as darkness fell. Sorrentino turns all this into a new film.

The sun was still high in the sky as the city’s streets emptied and tens of thousands made a pilgrimage to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for the coronation.

Inside there was a mosaic of blue and white and a large number of Maradona banners with nothing more than his image. It didn’t really need words, although a front page of the Tuttosport newspaper captured it well. Hi vista, Maradona? ‘Are you watching?’