Kate Carlisle visits Barga, whose local club links with Celtic and the chip shops of Paisley
Celtic may be twinned with many teams but the one representing the Tuscan community of Barga is a wee bit special. Barga is not just a pretty medieval village north of Pisa but ‘the most Scottish town in Italy’, whence many emigrated, some to return generations later.
It’s thought that around half of today’s residents have Scottish relatives. And not just any relatives… The father of pop star Paolo Nutini, Alfredo, of Barga origins, ran a fish ‘n’ chip shop in Paisley.
“Many Scots have come to Barga over the years,” Francesco Talini tells Libero. “The Nutini family is just one of them. As they were linked to Italian families, they were mostly Catholic, so in 99% of cases they were Celtic fans. The Celtic shirt has long been seen around Barga.”
Talini should know. He is president of local club Gatti Randagi, the Stray Cats, who play in green-and-white hoops. “Our team came about because there was a group of lads who wanted to play football in a more casual way than the more serious teams in Barga.”
“The funny thing is that when they went to choose the shirt, they didn’t agree on the colours, because some wanted the Italian national one. Then someone suggested using the Celtic hoops, something familiar to Barga. We already had support in Glasgow before Gatti Randagi, but the Celtic connection added another thread.”
The name itself came from a fraternity of local motorcyclists who, in between riding around the hills of Garfagnana, raised the initial funds to form the club. “At the time, we didn’t have any direct links with Celtic. But there’s always been a very strong bond between Barga and Scotland.”
“From what I’ve studied, read and been told, this mainly arose at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s, during a major economic crisis here. The emigration destination was supposed to be the America, but there was some strange mix-up in the process, taking the Italians not to New York but Glasgow. Some thought it was just a stop-off but that was as far as they got. So, a strong community from Barga developed in Glasgow.”
“Many went into hospitality – ice cream, fish ‘n’ chips, Italian restaurants – and made good money. They always maintained their roots with Barga. So, every summer, every holiday, they went back to revisit their Barga families. Some even think that the local Tuscan accent we speak has a Scottish lilt.”
Some 25 years ago, the Barga bhoys founded a Celtic Club, and watched games together. A wall of signed shirts lines the Barga dressing room and office. “We’re working on trying to bring a Celtic player to Barga, either a current or former one. We’re trying to bring someone here for the Barga Scottish Festival that we’ve been organising for many years. The mayor of Glasgow has even been here. Before our matches, we play Celtic songs, The Fields of Athenry, Willie Maley and You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
The traffic is not only one-way. “We go to Glasgow every year,” says Talini. “It’s where we feel at home. And we can also give a taste of the Scottish experience and atmosphere to locals from Barga aren’t familiar with it yet.”
“In 2017, I had the pleasure of watching a Celtic game from the director’s box, myself and the mayor of Barga, and we were well looked after. We met a lot of old players, Bobby Lennox and Bertie Auld before he passed, and we struck up a good relationship with the former Celtic captain, Tom Boyd.”
Back in the lower rungs of Tuscan regional amateur football, Gatti Randagi currently sit in a relegation play-off position – playout to Italians – of their 11-team division. This Saturday, the Stray Cats host Spartak Fiano, who represent a community of 378 citizens of Fiano di Pescaglia north of Lucca. Home turf is just outside Castelvecchio Pascoli, the Campo Sportivo Gatti Randagi, around 3km north-west of Barga itself.
“We’re not part of the Italian Football Federation, but the IGS, which is provincially organised. It’s a good fit. In 2014, we were crowned regional champions of Tuscany, and played in the 2015 national championships. We lost the final, but it meant we were second in all Italy, essentially.”
“Until last year, we played derbies with GS Barga, but they since moved to a different league, so it’s just a team from Pisa, which is a different type of rivalry. Players and fans are quite social, taking part in local festivals. Our roots run deep and are solid. Even during Covid, when we couldn’t go out, we held a fundraiser and set up this little building where we make our own beer. Strangely, Covid actually inspired many things.”
“Friends help to find sponsorship but we raise most of our funds through parties we throw every summer, the Festa delle Piazzette. Every evening, we feed about 300 people for about ten nights. From that, we’ve bought our headquarters, we pay for the pitch, the shirts and cover other expenses. No-one on the team gets paid to play. We all do it free because we have fun.”
“For a small town, it’s very lively. We also have an Irish connection. Someone came here to live for part of the year, fell in love with Barga and wanted to celebrate this relationship by organising a tournament called the Heritage Cup between Gatti Randagi and an Irish team.”
“The most important thing is being together – playing football is just an excuse. It’s something we enjoy, but without having a good time together, it wouldn’t make sense. We’ve also taken over an outdoor space at the Santa Elisabetta concert hall, where we’ve restored a basketball court, a tennis court, a skating rink and other facilities. For the whole community of Barga, for us, the idea of being together, of socialising, underpins everything.”
Gatti Randagi v Spartak Fiano, Campo Sportivo, Castelvecchio Pascoli. Saturday, December 6, 3pm.
