Il derby della madunina. The derby played between Inter and Milan is called the little Madonna derby. It’s the story behind the little Madonna and much more, that makes our derby something special and unique in the world of football. Hopefully this text will help explain why this game is so special.

The little Madonna:

“O mia bèla Madunina, che te brilet de luntan tüta dòra e piscinina, Ti te dòminet Milan sòta Ti se viiv la vita, se sta mai cuj man in man.”

The lines are from the famous song “Mia bella madunina” written by Giovanni d’Anzi in 1935. Many know that the song represents the small Madonna statue on top of the cathedral in the center of Milan, what many don’t know is that the Milanese song’s text is an obvious and sour pass to cities further south of Milan. The part “Sòt a ti se viv la vita se sta mai cuj man in man, Canten tucc: “Lontan de Napoli se moeur”, ma poeu vegnen chi a Milan!” means that the Milanese inhabitants live their lives under the little Madonna and that he is never lazy. Just the laziness is a typical prejudice from Milan residents, against those who live further south. Paragraphs ends with “Everybody sings that they can’t die far from Napoli, but yet they come to Milan.” This is an obvious pass to the southerners who moved to northern Italy to work, but in the eyes of Milan residents’ eyes they are slackers despite of this.

This song is well known by the Curva Nord and Curva Sud. The song is often sung by both Curvas and ends with a unison “TERRUN” (farmers), followed by a united choir singing “Milano lalalala”. This particular pride in Milan and with the little Madonna as a symbol is what has given the name to our derby. The beautiful derby between two great teams in the north, from a large city in the north. The winner of the derby often talk about having painted the little Madonnas in it’s team’s colors and this unmatched tifo with the little Madonna in black and blue and the text “ti te Dominet Milan” (you dominate Milan), is what both teams’ supporters dream of being able to do. To win over the bragging rights in the little madonna’s derby and that the little Madonna should be in our color, until the next derby is played.

The political shifts among supporters: Inter was founded in 1908 by members from Milan who opposed the fact that foreign players couldn’t represent the red and black. Inter was later to become the team of the upperclass, and the supporters were nicknamed “Bauscia” which means something like a showoff. Milan, in turn, was the team of the workers and were called “casciavit” which means carpenter. This has changed over the years and in the current situation, it’s very difficult to single out just one type of people who are supporters of one or the other team. If you look at the teams’ presidents, Silvio Berlusconi is a right-wing playboy, while the Moratti family for a long time is leaning to the left in their political sympathies.

In the curvas, Milan for a long time had one of the only (and best) leftist Ultra groupings in Fossa Dei Leoni. Fossa dei Leoni was closed after being systematically worked out by the right-wing president, but most of all because they advocated a non-violent ultra mentality, something that wasn’t possible when the group’s banners and flags were stolen. If that happens in the ultra world, you have to take them back no matter what, and this means that you often have to fight. (This is one of the few occasions when the peace pact has been broken, at the derby in 2008.) The Fossa was no longer respected in the Curva and rival groups took over power. Curva Sud is today far more right-wing than before, and in conversations with ultras from Milan’s Curva after the last derby this was confirmed. Curva Nord has long been a right-wing curva, but after the many successes the right-wing extremism has been toned down a lot in Curva Nord, compared to when it was at its worst.

The Peace Pact:

In the late 1980’s the violence between ultras was at it’s worst in Italy (Antonio De Falchi was beaten to death by Milanisti 88/89). Bloody fights were very common, and when the bans for ultras from the stadiums became more frequent and the injuries became more and more serious Inter’s and AC Milan’s ultras decided to do something about it. The idea was to make sure that the general safety wasn’t in jeopardy when the teams met in derbies, but even beyond just the derby match as well. VIP:s from the Curvas met up and discussed. They came back with a decision that their friends at the time weren’t very pleased with, but the decision was that there would be no fights between the rival factions anymore.

Today, this pact is a very positive thing. People can go to the stadium without having to risk being jumped, and you can often see Interisti and Milanisti walking together to the stadium. As I mentioned earlier, a known example, when the pact broken, was when an Inter grouping came across a banner from a Milan grouping in 2009, the Milan grouping was then forced to venture into the Curva Nord to get their banner back again. The leaders in Curva Nord and Sud weren’t happy with the event, but it’s the type of exception that can be made in the peace pact, as it still is about Ultras vs Ultras.

Outside il Baretto both ultra factions gather to drink, sing and taunt each other. Everything is allowed in chants and banners. This is a result of not hitting each other to pieces before and after the games. If you’re a part of the game you have to accept the rules and the one taking place at the San Siro is spectacular, not scary.

The Arena:

The stadium is popularly known as San Siro, also by Interisti because the area around the stadium is named the San Siro. In contrast, many Interisti are also calling it Giuseppe Meazza, the former great player represented both Inter and Milan and is along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic one of the only ones who have decided the derby for both Inter and Milan. The official name of the stadium is “Stadio Giuseppe Meazza San Siro”. The stadium was built in 1925, Inter and Milan have shared arena since 1947, which is the year that the municipality took over ownership of the arena. The stadium’s capacity is currently just above 80,000, and it is called the La Scala of football. The arena and the sharing of it has a very special role in the derby’s history.

The Curvas:

Our derby guarantees a mix of all the best from Italian fan culture. The tifos are world class, loud singing and banners with sharp messages. Before the match, supporters are gathering outside il Baretto as I mentioned. What goes on for a few hours before the game at Baretto and after the game, is an equally important element of the derby’s fan culture as what happens during the game. What usually is getting the headlines is always happening right before kickoff. The tifo is often covering more than just a part of the section or just the curva. A mixture of perfect accuracy, explosions of colors and powerful images.

Those banners then? Yes, why not take a trip down memory lane to when Curva Sud silenced every Interista, despite the embarrassing loss in the CL Final 2005. Milan went from leading 3-0 to 3-3 and then lost the match. Interisti celebrated and of course mocked their red and black cousins. Milanisti’s banner? “In six minutes, Liverpool did what you haven’t done in 40 years.” For those who don’t understand that, Milanisti are talking about the six minutes it took Liverpool to reverse the result in the CL-final and then win it. Inter then? There are many fine examples here as well. When Kaka had left Interisti took the opportunity to pull a sly parable to the international meaning of Kaka, which in many languages is poop. “Even without Kaka, you’re full of shit” was the message on the banner. In the last derby a banner was held up that read: “Cesena have scored .” A few minutes later another banner appeared “disallowed”. For those who don’t understand, I recommend this video from when Milan Channel’s commentator Mauro

Suma goes completely bananas when he thinks Cesena has leveled against Juventus in the Scudetto fight. Something that never happened and then Mauro Suma is disappointed as he thinks the goal was disallowed. We are always treated to a fan culture of world-class in our derby.

The traitors:

This attitude between the two clubs’ supporters have made a move between Milan and Inter not look as bad as such a move between Inter and Juve or Roma and Lazio. However, it’s far from alright according to many to take that step. Bobo Vieri, Ronaldo, Muntari, Ibrahimovic and many more, are those who have received the most crap from gli Interisti. There aren’t as many that have made the reverse move from Milan to Inter, or been as hated as previously mentioned players. While Pirlo, Seedorf and Crespo are examples of players who have always been respected despite their moves. In the last years, however, something has happened, Leonardo and Cassano are people who will never be forgiven for their ‘betrayal’ of Milan’s supporters. Something that of course adds extra spice to an already hot derby.

The successes:

A derby that is being played between two very successful clubs are very rare . Milan represents the only city in the world, where a derby is played between the two teams that have won the Champions League. It’s also the city along with Madrid where a derby is played between two teams that won the World Cup trophy (Atletico took Bayern Munich’s spot and has won the trophy despite not winning the CL). The clubs have won 18 Scudetti each and together they have lifted the CL trophy 10 times, where Milan obviously represents a majority of the 10, with 7 European Cups.

The World stars:

From Meazza to Mazzola. From Gre-No-Li to Facchetti. From a magical red and black trio of Dutchmen with Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit to a German black and blue trio with Matthäus, Brehme and Klinsmann. Red and black bandieras like Baresi and Maldini, to the black and blue counterparts like Zanetti and Bergomi. Phenomena such as Ronaldo and Kaka. Attackers like Milito and Shevschenko. Many mentioned, very many forgotten. The point is made, The Milan derby has always been full of stars and players who have won everything there is to win. That may seem sparse for Sunday’s game, but maybe it’s such a night where new stars are born, El Shaarawy or Kovacic…?

The even statistics:

In Serie A, 180 matches have been played between Milan and Inter. Milan have won 60 games, Inter have won 67 and 53 matches have ended in a draw. In the Champions League Milan has the advantage who in six games has won four and played two draws. In Coppa Italia Milan has won nine against Inter’s seven and seven games have ended in a draw. The bottom line is that our derby is very even historically, and that anything can happen. Not exactly like the Madrid derby, where the outcome is usually obvious in advance. The balance is the great charm of it all, because even though Milan according to me has both a lesser team and is at a disadvantage, it’s not at all impossible that they win, just watch Inter last season. I hope this article has given you a greater insight into what we define as our derby. Il derby della madunina as it is called in popular speech.