Showing posts with label Rugby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rugby. Show all posts

26 April 2022

Tommaso Allan - rugby player

Ex-Treviso star has won 61 international caps

Tommaso Allan in the green colours of Benetton Treviso, his home for five years
Tommaso Allan in the green colours of
Benetton Treviso, his home for five years
The rugby player Tommaso Allan, who has won 61 international caps for the Italy rugby union team since his debut in 2013, was born on this day in 1993 in Vicenza.

A specialist fly-half, Allan is third in the all-time points scoring chart for the Azzurri, having amassed a total of 327 points, including 12 tries and 54 conversions.  Only Diego Dominguez and Stefano Bettarello, both of whom also played at fly-half, scored more points for the national team in their careers.

Currently playing for Harlequins in the English Premiership, Allan spent five seasons playing for Benetton Treviso, one of Italy’s most famous and successful clubs.

Allan was born into a rugby-playing family. His mother, Paola Berlato, was herself an international player, with four caps for the Azzurre at scrum half; his father, William, born in Scotland, spent two years playing for the rugby team of Thiene, a small city in Vicenza province. His father’s brother, John, won nine international caps for Scotland and 13 for South Africa.

Tommaso began playing himself at around the age of six, training at the Petrarca Padova youth academy. 

His father’s career, however, meant that the family left Italy and Allan acquired his rugby education in England, training with the London Scottish and Wasps academies, and then in South Africa where, in 2012, he was a member of the Western Province under-19 team that won the Currie Cup. 

When his father took the family back to Scotland, Tommaso’s dual passport status meant he was eligible for Scotland’s junior teams and he was selected at under-17, under-18 and under-20 levels, competing in both the World Cup and the Six Nations at youth level. 

Allan being interviewed after his Harlequins debut
Allan being interviewed after
his Harlequins debut
He began his club career in France with Perpignan, for whom he made his debut in 2013. Among his teammates was Tommaso Benvenuti, a member of the Italy national team, while the club’s assistant coach was another Italian, Ciccio De Carli. 

They noted his talent and brought him to the attention of Jacques Brunel, the Frenchman who was then Italy’s coach. 

When Brunel named Allan in his 35-man training squad for the 2013 Tests against Australia, Fiji and Argentina, the player had to make a choice between playing for Italy or Scotland at senior level. 

Ultimately, he decided that the opportunity to play international rugby at the age of 20 was something he could not turn down and opted for the Azzurri, making his debut in the match against Australia, coming off the bench to score.

The following year he made his debut in the Six Nations championship, playing for Italy against Wales, France and Scotland. Thereafter, he became a regular in the Azzurri line-up. The following year he was a member of the Italy team that defeated Scotland at Murrayfield in the Six Nations, only the country’s second victory away from Italian soil since they were admitted to the Six Nations in 2000.

After that 2015 victory, Italy went another seven years without recording a single success, home or away, in the competition. The run ended when they beat Wales by a single point in Cardiff in March, 2022.

Allan in action for the Italy national team
Allan in action for the
Italy national team
Allan returned to his native country to play club rugby in 2016, when he signed for Benetton Treviso, one of Italy’s most famous clubs and national champions 15 times.

He made Treviso his home, settling there with his girlfriend, Benan, a Turkish-born student he had met on holiday in Barcelona. 

After sharing an apartment near Benetton Treviso’s base at the Ghirada sports complex south of Treviso, they were married at the Villa Condulmer, a 17th-century Venetian villa built in the Palladian style near Mogliano Veneto, a town between Treviso and Mestra.

While Tommaso pursued his career, Benan, who specialises in neurosciences, continued her education at the University of Padua, where she obtained a PhD. 

Allan left Benetton Treviso in 2021 to join Harlequins, who play at The Stoop, their home in Twickenham, South West London. He told the current Italy coach, the New Zealander Kieran Crowley, not to consider him for selection while he gives full attention to establishing himself in the Premiership but has not ruled out a return to international duty.

The Piazza dei Signori is Vicenza's main square, attraction thousands of visitors in the summer
The Piazza dei Signori is Vicenza's main square,
attraction thousands of visitors in the summer
Travel tip: 

Known as both the city of Palladio and, on account of its historical trade in precious metals, the ‘city of gold’, Tommaso Allan’s home city of Vicenza is one of the gems of Italy’s Veneto region, with a centre rich in beautiful architecture, much of which has been built or influenced by the 16th century architect Andrea Palladio, who also left his mark on the area by building many impressive villas in the countryside around Vicenza. The most famous of these is the symmetrically four-sided Villa Almerico Capra, commonly known as La Rotonda. There are some 23 buildings in the city itself that were designed by Palladio, including perhaps the city’s most popular attraction, the Teatro Olimpico, which was his last work.

Canals are a feature of Treviso's urban landscape
Canals are a feature of
Treviso's urban landscape
Travel tip:

For many visitors to Italy, Treviso is no more than the name of the airport at which they might land en route to Venice, yet it is an attractive city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape – not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast.



Also on this day:

1538: The birth of painter Gian Paolo Lomazzo

1575: The birth of Maria de’ Medici, Queen of France

1925: The birth of chocolatier Michele Ferrero

1977: The birth of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti 


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15 January 2019

Paolo Vaccari - rugby player

Italy’s second all-time highest try scorer


Paolo Vaccari played 64 times for the Italian  national rugby team, scoring 22 tries
Paolo Vaccari played 64 times for the Italian
national rugby team, scoring 22 tries
The rugby player Paolo Vaccari, who scored 22 tries for the Italian national team in a 64-cap career, was born on this day in 1971 in Calvisano, a town in Lombardy about 30km (19 miles) southeast of Brescia.

A versatile back equally adept at wing, centre or full-back, Vaccari was regarded as a strong defender and an intelligent and technically-sound back who frequently created scoring opportunities for players around him.

Although he was good enough to be selected for the renowned Barbarians invitational XV against Leicester Tigers in 1998, he played all his domestic rugby in Italy, enjoying great success.

He won the double of Italian Championship and Cup with Milan Rugby in 1994-95 and was a title-winner for the second time with his home club Calvisano 10 years later, during a run in which Calvisano reached the Championship final six years in a row, from 2001-06.

Vaccari had won his second Italian Cup medal with Calvisano in 2003-04.

In international rugby, his proudest moment was undoubtedly scoring Italy’s fourth try in their historic 40-32 victory over reigning Five Nations champions France in the final of the FIRA Cup in Grenoble in 1997.

Vaccari's father was one of the founders of Calvisano's rugby club
Vaccari's father was one of the founders
of Calvisano's rugby club
It was the first time the azzurri had beaten France and was a significant result in their bid to be admitted to the top table of international rugby in the northern hemisphere, a campaign that bore fruit in 2000 when they were admitted to the expanded Six Nations Championships.

He had also participated in Italy’s first victory over a British team, in a warm-up match for the 1995 World Cup, when the azzurri defeated Ireland in Treviso.

Injury caused him to miss Italy’s first match in the Six Nations, against Scotland in Rome in 2000, but he was present to contribute to another historic victory against Wales - their first against the Dragons - in Rome in the 2003 tournament.  He retired from international rugby the same year. Only Marcello Cuttitta, another winger, has scored more tries for Italy.

As a native of Calvisano, Vaccari was destined to become a rugby player.  The agricultural town in the flat Po plain has become a stronghold of Italian rugby, their team winning the Italian Championship six times.

His father was Gianluigi Vaccari, who along with Alfredo Gavazzi and Tonino Montanari founded the Calvisano club in 1970.

Paolo began to play with the oval ball virtually as soon as he could walk, dreaming of wearing the yellow and black jersey of the Calvisano team.
Vaccari scored in Italy's historic victory over France in  the 1997 FIRA Cup in Grenoble
Vaccari scored in Italy's historic victory over France in
the 1997 FIRA Cup in Grenoble

He became adept so quickly that his coach pitched him into a competitive junior match a year before he reached 13 years old - the minimum legal age - by picking him under the name of another player who was the correct age.  Vaccari’s first-team debut came in February 1987 - two weeks after his 16th birthday.

He made his international debut in the summer of 1991 as Italy toured Namibia and was selected for the first of his three Rugby World Cups the same year, scoring a try in a 30-9 victory over the United States and playing at historic Twickenham for the first time as Italy lost 36-6 to a strong England team, before taking part in a creditable azzurri performance against the formidable New Zealand All Blacks, who came out 31-21 winners.

In 1993, after six years in Calvisano’s first XV, Vaccari joined Amatori Milano - then owned by media magnate, AC Milan owner and future prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and playing as Milan Rugby.

The attraction was to play alongside the likes of Italy’s Argentina-born fly half Diego Dominguez, the twins Massimo and Marcello Cuttitta, Franco Properzi and Massimo Giovanelli in a star-studded line-up. It was a testament to Vaccari’s standing in the game by that time that he was hired as a replacement for the great Australian David Campese.

Vaccari helped Calvisano win the Italian  Championship for the first time in 2005
Vaccari helped Calvisano win the Italian
Championship for the first time in 2005
Milan were beaten by L’Aquila in the Championship final in Vaccari’s first season but the following year, further strengthened by the arrival of another great Australian in Michael Lynagh, won the Championship-Cup double.

Vaccari subsequently received offers to play club rugby in South Africa but declined, partially because by then he was studying at the Politecnico di Milano and did not want to abandon his studies.

Instead, he returned in 1995 to his home club, Calvisano, where he would play for the remainder of his career.

As a member of the team that won Calvisano’s first Italian Championship in 2004-05 on their fourth consecutive appearance in the final, defeating Benetton Treviso, he remains a club legend.

Nowadays, a qualified architect, Vaccari is a member of the council of the Italian Rugby Federation.

Married to Azzurra and the father of two children - Martina and Leonardo - Vaccari is a vintage car enthusiast. In fact, he took part in the 2011 edition of the Mille Miglia, once a major endurance event in motor racing but now a festival of classic and vintage cars.

One of the gates that remain from Calvisano's  historic military fortifications
One of the gates that remain from Calvisano's
historic military fortifications
Travel tip:

Calvisano, a town of around 8,500 residents which has roots in Roman times, was something of a military stronghold in the 14th century, when it figured in the struggle between the warring Guelphs and the Ghibellines, who took shelter from their enemies in the town’s castle. In the first half of the 15th century, it became drawn into another fight between rival families as the Visconti and Serenissima battled for the control of the territory corresponding to the current province of Brescia.  Parts of the original fortification remain, including two gates, one to the north and the other to the south. The latter, adjoining Piazza Caduti, is surmounted by the Torre Civica.

Find a hotel in Calvisano with tripadvisor

Treviso is a city of canals, although on a somewhat smaller scale than Venice
Treviso is a city of canals, although on a
somewhat smaller scale than Venice
Travel tip:

Treviso, another major centre for rugby in Italy, is known to many visitors to Italy as the ‘second’ airport of Venice, yet it is an attractive city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape – not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast.


More reading:

Andrea lo Cicero - rugby star turned TV presenter

Flavio Briatore - the entrepreneur behind the Benetton brand

Brescia's finest sportsman? - the AC Milan and Italy great Franco Baresi

Also on this day:

1623: The death of Venetian historian and statesman Paolo Sarpi

1926: The death of classic Neapolitan songwriter Giambattista De Curtis

1935: The birth of football coach Gigi Radice


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7 May 2016

Andrea Lo Cicero - rugby star turned TV presenter

Prop nicknamed "il Barone" now bona fide Knight


Photo of Andrea lo Cicero
Andrea lo Cicero
Former Italian international rugby star Andrea Lo Cicero today celebrates his 40th birthday, having been born on this day in 1976 in Catania, Sicily.

The 113 kilo (249lb) prop forward played rugby for the Azzurri between 2000 and 2013, retiring with 103 caps.  At the time it was the highest number won by any player and Lo Cicero was only the second player in the history of the national team to win more than 100 caps.

He made his debut against England at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome in March 2000, as the Five Nations Championship became the Six Nations with the inclusion of Italy for the first time, and ended his international career in the capital, although this time at the Stadio Olimpico, in a 22-15 victory over Ireland in the 2013 Championship, in front of a crowd of 80,054.

Highlights along the way included an outstanding performance in the 2004 Championship, when Italy beat Scotland in Rome and Lo Cicero was named in the BBC's Dream XV.  Later that year he was the only European player selected for the Barbarians team that took on New Zealand, in which he scored a rare try.

He also played in three rugby World Cups, in Australia in 2003, France in 2007 and New Zealand in 2011.

In his club career, Lo Cicero represented Amatori Catania before moving to Rovigo and then Rome, where he was part of an Italian Championship-winning team in 1999-2000.

He played in France for the first time when he joined Toulouse in 2001 and, after three seasons back in Italy with L'Aquila, finished his career with his longest spell at any one club, playing for Racing Metro for six years, winning promotion to the top flight of the French Championship in 2009 and twice being named best prop in the Championship.

Lo Cicero acquired the nickname "il Barone" because his ancestry could be traced back to Sicilian nobility.  He became interested in rugby through an uncle, Michele, who also played for Amatori Catania, but showed early promise also in canoeing, giving up only because he developed such large leg muscles he could not fit comfortably into the canoe.

Having grown up by the sea, however, he maintained an interest in water sports and has become an accomplished sailor, competing in the 2013 America's Cup as a crew member for the Luna Rossa team.

Since retiring from competitive sport, Lo Cicero has established a second career as a TV presenter, drawing on his passion for gardening, restoring antique furniture and renovating houses.

He hosts a Sky Italia show called Giardini di Incubo which can be roughly translated as Garden Nightmares, and appears in another, L'Uomo in Casa, which offers tips on DIY and renovation projects. He also guests in sports and cookery shows, runs a business that harvests saffron and helps disabled children through pet therapy.

An ambassador for the international children's charity UNICEF, and a former volunteer for the Italian Red Cross, he was made a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic in January 2015.

Photo of the Duomo in Catania
Catania's impressive Baroque style Duomo
Travel tip:

Catania, where Andrea Lo Cicero grew up in the shadow of the still-active volcano Mount Etna, overlooking the Ionian Sea, is the second largest city in Sicily, with a population of 315,000.  It is notable for its Baroque city centre, which is a UNESCO heritage site, but also has some outstanding classical buildings, ancient remains buried over the centuries.  Greek and Roman cities built on the site of the present city disappeared under layers of lava from Etna's eruptions but parts of them have been unearthed, including an impressive Greek-Roman theatre.

Travel tip:

The Stadio Olimpico, which hosts home matches for both the Lazio and Roma football clubs as well as rugby and football internationals, is located by the banks of the River Tiber, a short distance to the north of central Rome. It was built in the 1930s as part of the Foro Mussolini (later Foro Italico), a large sports facility which Italy's dictatorial leader built to glorify the country's sporting past and celebrate its future. It became the Stadio Olimpico as the host venue for athletics events at the 1960 Olympic games.  A roof was added for the 1990 World Cup. Outside can be found Roman-style mosaics, statues of athletes and an obelisk dedicated to Mussolini.

More reading:

Sara Errani's claim to be Italy's best

Alessandro Costacurta, the champion of football longevity

Also on this day: 

1917: The birth of Sistine Chapel Choir director Domenico Bartolucci

1983: The birth of Olympic archery champion Marco Galiazzo

(Photo of Andrea Lo Cicero by Roberto Vicario CC BY-SA 3.0)
(Photo of Catania's Duomo by Urban CC BY-SA 3.0)

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