Ciccotti, Greggi and Bartoli Carry on Roma’s Homegrown Tradition

When discussing the legacy of Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi, as well as the budding stories of Alessandro Florenzi and (hopefully) Luca and Lorenzo Pellegrini, what’s mentioned most often (besides their stellar play) is the city of their birth and their unflinching loyalty to all things Rome and, more importantly, all things Roma. We’ve discussed it numerous times throughout the years, but it bears repeating: you don’t know why the city of their birth matters, you just know that it does...a lot.

Totti, De Rossi and Florenzi turning their noses up to more lucrative offers at home and abroad only served to increase their stature among Roma fans. They had the world at their collective feet and access to the greenest pastures the sport has to offer, yet they stayed true to their roots; they are Romans through and through, valuing that connection and that tradition more than greater fame and glory afforded by larger and more famous clubs.

This is undoubtedly one of the selling points to potential Roma fans—no matter where you were born, that sense of allegiance is intoxicating to those of us who shun corporate megaclubs. And hey, guess what, there are Romans (a lot of them) playing for AS Roma’s women’s team as well, and their passion and dedication to the club is no less impressive.

Manuela Coluccini, Elisa Bartoli, Flaminia Simonetti, Giada Greggi, Heden Corrado, Eleonora Cunsolo, Valentina Casaroli and Claudia Ciccotti were all born and raised in Roma. If you lost track, that’s a full eight players born and raised in the Eternal City, and all but Corrado came up as Roma fans—but she’s only 16-years-old, so we’ll chalk her prior Juve allegiance up to youth. Besides, if we throw Maria Zecca into the mix, who is a Roma fan from Bayonne, New Jersey of all places, the ragazze roster bleeds even more red.

With a break in their schedule, midfielder Claudia Ciccotti spoke about her experience as a born and bred Roman suiting up for her hometown club.

Her last point there is a salient one—up until this fall, none of those eight women could have dreamed of playing top flight football for their favorite club, a point Ciccotti expanded upon:

I’m Rome-born, I’ve been a Roma fan since I was born. It’s something special for me because when I started playing football, that opportunity [to play for Roma] wasn’t available to me. Now, like me all the little girls that start playing football have the chance to perhaps one day wear these colours and be a part of this great club.

Even now, I cannot really describe what it was like to put on the Roma shirt for the first time – so you can image {sic} what it was like to score my first goal too.

While Ciccotti hasn’t garnered as many headlines as her fellow Romans Bartoli and Greggi, she’s been no less crucial to Roma’s success this season, playing virtually all over the park, plugging in holes whenever and wherever she’s asked. Much like her fellow Roman Florenzi, her role sort of defies positional labels.

Ciccotti, Bartoli, Greggi and the rest of Roma’s Romans face their toughest challenge of the season this weekend when they take on first place AC Milan on Saturday.