«The Italian National Team jersey makes me feel good» Interview with Mattia Zaccagni From the football pitch to fashion: Getting ready for EURO 2024
According to some scholars, in human history, the conquest of fire and the invention of the wheel would not be secondary to that of the bow. First used as a hunting tool, even in the Paleolithic age, and then in warfare, wielded by Egyptians and Babylonians until the medieval peoples. Age after age, bow and arrows have traversed the centuries until the spread of firearms, which marked their decline in warfare, but not erasing their memory in the collective imagination, reaching up to the present day. An archer, a figure that has become increasingly rare. A bit like the qualities and playing style of Mattia Zaccagni, who in a football increasingly characterized by physicality and endurance, makes technique, dribbling, and vision his main qualities. Qualities that, every time he scores a goal, allow him to celebrate just like an archer, mimicking drawing an imaginary arrow from his quiver to shoot it towards the cheering crowd.
A celebration that Lazio fans have now learned to know and appreciate since the class of 1995 dons the white and sky blue jersey, arriving in the summer of 2021 from Hellas Verona, the team with which he made his Serie A debut and became known to the wider public before moving to Rome. «In Verona, I experienced eight magnificent and intense years. I went from being a kid to becoming a man, both on and off the field,» recalls Zaccagni. «I played in Serie B, won the championship, and toughened up in every sense. And the city was there for me, I have always been a part of it, and I even bought a house there: I have a special bond with it and it will always be in my heart. And then there was the change with Rome, the Capital, hard to compare with any other city from this point of view. Now my heart is here, where I have built something important and started a family.»
What interests him and attracts his attention, however, is fashion, lifestyle, and current trends: «For me, presenting a good image of oneself is important, and then I have my wife who doesn't make many mistakes on this and helps me,» jokes Zaccagni. «Year after year, things change. When I see a photo of myself from some time ago, I always think: what was I wearing? Yet, it was the fashion of the moment, which changes quickly, and I try to keep up. I wear different brands, I like to vary: from sporty to elegant, but also casual. I wear a bit of everything,» says Zaccagni, who as he speaks sits next to a bow and a quiver containing three arrows, just like the Three Stripes of adidas, of which he is now a prominent athlete. Because if the figure of the archer, as the ages passed, slowly disappeared, his image remained impressed in the collective memory, resurfacing every time Mattia Zaccagni scores a goal and shoots an imaginary arrow towards the crowd cheering him on. The symbol of an icon, not just on the football field.
