By Dominik Baur in Rome
A few tourists don't seem to have grasped how serious the situation is. While world-changing events were taking place, they strolled across St. Peter's Square and enjoyed the balmy summer evening. Americans? Or people from some other nation that cares little about football? The light was on in the Pope's chamber. Media reports had said he was planning to watch the match -- on a black and white TV from the 1970s. But the Italy flag he was reportedly planning to hang out of his window turned out to be an unfounded rumor.
Unlike flag-covered Germany, there weren't many flags decorating house facades or adorning cars in the Italian capital. Italians don't raise flags, they wave them. The classic model is one meter by one-and-a-half and costs €7. Just a few kilometres from the Pope's office thousands of Tifosi had turned Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) into an ocean of flags. Some 200,000 fans watched the World Cup final here on three large screens.
For them -- and for their 60 million countrymen in other public viewing areas and in front of televisions across the country -- the match was an endless adrenaline-pumping drama. Italy wasn't ahead once throughout the 120 minutes of the match including extra time. And contrary to the team battling away in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, the fans couldn't work off their adrenaline. They could only watch helplessly and wave their flags a little.
When extra time was over, the tension became unbearable. A penalty shootout -- historically not a strong point of Italian national teams. Horrified at the prospect, many fans held their hands in front of their mouths. "You can do it Gigi!" they shouted as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon strode towards the goal.
France in a cardboard coffin
It would be "Italy's night", the daily La Repubblica, confident of victory, announced in its edition on Sunday. At 10:41 p.m. CET, it was finally over. This was going to be a very, very long night. In that minute, the Azzuri, as the team in their sky-blue shirts are known, performed the miracle. They won the penalty shootout.
Defender Fabio Grosso's decisive conversion released all the pent-up tension -- the whole of Rome erupted into a single roar of joy. Thousands started dancing and singing in the Circo Massimo, chanted "Italia," fired up torches, banged pot lids together. When the French team lined up to receive their runners-up medals, the Tifosi booed.
As soon as the World Cup had been kissed and caressed and live coverage of the glorious events in Berlin was over, the march of triumph began. The crowd danced and jumped their way from Circo Massimo to Piazza Venezia square and from there to Piazza del Popolo. Fans leaped into fountains fully clothed. The streets that hadn't been blocked off were jam-packed with cars and Vespas. No one cared. This night wasn't about getting anywhere. Stores sold T-shirts with "World Champions 2006" printed on them. Some youths carried a cardboard coffin symbolizing France and shouted: "Vafanculo Francia!" ("Piss Off, France!"). There were some bad victors -- but not many.
A nation in delirium
The Azzuri's victory makes it easy to forget a lot of things happening in Italy right now. Will Juve be demoted to the third league? Will the majority of Italian team members, whose magnificent play secured the country's first World Cup title in 24 years, flee to teams abroad? It doesn't matter. No one here wants to think about the football scandal right now. Almost no one. Speaking to the daily Corriere della Sera, former world champion Gennaro Gattuso said: "Without the scandal, we never would have won. Problems at home gave our players extra drive in Germany."
"The whole country is in a state of delirium," Corriere dello Sport wrote on Monday. The headlines were virtually identical in every newspaper: "Campioni" ("world champions"). "Blessed be the penalties," the Roman daily Repubblica wrote, claiming: "The world is ours." Another correspondent pointed out: Once again a match has ended with a "colpo di testa," or "header" from Zidane. But in this context, the Italian term can also mean to "head butt" someone.
Stefano Pallanti believes that Italy's victory in Berlin could do more for the country than just deliver it the cup. According to Repubblica, the psychiatrist at a Florence-based neurological institute has found that victories are the ultimate aphrodisiac. He believes that, following the victory, Italy will experience a baby boom in nine months. Given that Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe, that couldn't hurt.
By 6 a.m., with the sun already shining, Italy's long night slowly came to an end. Just as the pope had likely finished his morning prayers, the last Tifosis wrapped in the Italian flag started to make their way home. Even world champions need sleep. And the people who couldn't party all night had their own way of celebrating on Monday morning. They greeted each other over cappuccinos in cafes: "Buon giorno, campioni!" Good morning, world champion.
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