'We're from Italy but we are Sunderland til we die'
Meet five lads from Italy who travelled through a storm to be in the place they love the most - Sunderland.
They’re known as the ‘Black Cats of Italy’ and they came to Wearside to watch SAFC beat Stoke City even though it poured down.
Vi amiate Sunderland
They travelled from Bergamo to Edinburgh but Gianmarco Fermi said: “ Of Edinburgh we cared little, our dream was only one: Sunderland.”
‘The next day, we got the train from Edinburgh towards Newcastle and from there, Metro to finally reach the red-white stop: ‘Stadium of Light’ .
Storm Darragh was doing its worst but Gianmarco said: “Although the weather was not the best, with a lot of wind and rain, our enthusiasm was at its peak.”
Panettone from Italy
Their first stop in Sunderland was the home of A Love Supreme where they took gifts of ‘Christmas panettone cakes from Italy to taste’
Then it was on to the stadium with their display of banners.
Gianmarco added: “Thanks to the generosity of the people of Sunderland, we were able to watch the game in the stands and even went to the Business Lounge, what an experience.”
The crazy emotion of watching 40,000 fans sing Wise Men Say
The Black Cats of Italy loved the pre-match light show and ’almost 40,000 people all passionately singing ‘wise man say’. It's always a crazy emotion!
“Then what can I say: we won!! even better!”
Their love for SAFC stems from some unlikely sources.
They watched the Netflix series ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ and some of them played as Sunderland either on Fifa on the Playstation or Football Manager.
The Italian contingency got to meet the players after the match before finally heading back to Italy ’after many beers, photos, rain, wind and emotions.”
Share your international SAFC story
Our thanks go to the Black Cats of Italy who are Gianmarco and Matteo from Brescia, Lorenzo from Turin, Mario from Massa Carrara and Thomas from Padua.
The Black Cats of Italy got in touch after our recent story about a whole contingency of Sunderland fans coming from Malta to support the team.
We want to know about the fans who travel from all corners of the world to follow the Lads.
Tell us more by emailing [email protected]