@ossobuco,
I'm sure I posted the elsewhere, but in case you missed it, I strongly, puff puff, recommend the book, The Dark Heart of Italy, by T0bias Jones. Man is fanatic about what is going on, and I'd dismiss that, one more straniero, but he's good, I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Jones_(writer)
I still haven't finished my copy of it, drowning in detail that I plan to read later, but his key chapter, to me, was about the beautiful game, chapter three.
He played, an english guy, at a local park in Parma, and then..