A wine producer on the national team bench: Spalletti’s debut during harvest season

Luciano Spalletti, in the guise of “winegrower”, would most likely have been among the vineyards on 9 September to check the state of the grapes of his Tenuta La Rimessa, in Montaione, on the Tuscan hills, in the centre of a triangle with heads of Florence, Siena and Livorno. Instead, in Skopje, North Macedonia, he will make his debut as coach of the Italian national team, to begin his qualification process for Euro2024, and will be the first wine producer to sit on the Italy bench.
A curious fate, that of Luciano Spalletti, who was effectively exonerated at the end of last season, after bringing the Scudetto back to Naples, the third for the Partenopei, after over 30 years, and then taking over after the resignation of the now-former coach from the Marches (and also a great wine lover, first and foremost Verdicchio, the wine of his birthplace, since he was born in Jesi, but also Sagrantino di Montefalco, particularly the Caprai brand, as we have described here) Roberto Mancini, seduced by the offer of the sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, which he will lead for the next 4 years.
And if according to Mancini Italian wine is the best in the world, as he recounted a few years ago in an interview, where he defined wine as “teamwork”, like in football, also for the new coach, Luciano Spalletti, there are a lot of the similarities between the vineyard and the green rectangle: “working in the open space, developing strategies, content, and solutions, and then obviously there are results: winning an important game and producing an excellent wine that provides great satisfaction”, he explains in a video on the website of “La Rimessa”, which among other activities also produces extra virgin olive oil.
“It is a dream that started a long time ago: at the age of 11, in the Mexico ’70 World Cup, I asked my mother to sew the Italian flag for me. I hope to return that dream to the thousands of children who support the national team,” Spalletti said in his first press conference as national coach. And when the results arrive, of course, he won’t miss the wine with which to toast, produced directly by “mister” Spalletti.