Since the early 1990s, Italian historians have sought to understand the nature and development of Italian identity since unification in the 1870s. Gian Rusconi and Ernesto Loggia have concluded that the relatively recent development of democracy in Italy manifested itself in a weak political identity, vacillating between the extremes of fascism and anti-fascism, monarchism and republicanism. Regional tensions caused Italians to foster municipal, regional, and linguistic loyalties rather than a shared national identity, with many Italians considering themselves to be citizens of their home cities rather than citizens of Italy.

Focusing on the rivalry between Pro Vercelli and Casale, two of the strongest football teams of the pre-WW1 period, this paper will read the history of Italian football as a microcosm of the development of Italian nationhood in the early 20^th century. Located only nine miles apart in Piedmont, the sporting rivalry between the two communes spurred both to national success against big city teams from Turin, Milan, and Genoa. This paper will argue that their story is emblematic of Italy’s developing regional and national boundaries, the eclipsing of the regions by the emerging urban centres, the emergence of national identity, pan-European immigration, and the rise of fascism after WWI.