Watching a football match at the stadium in Italy is a very strong experience for an American and even for an English. Unlike the United Kingdom, in Italy the ultras still have a lumbering role in many aspects: relationships with the club, organization of choirs and coreographies. And public order.

The ultras in Italy are 41.000, they organized themselves in 388 groups. 60 among those have a strong politic imprint, the majority are extreme-right oriented, especially in Serie A. The data were disclosed in the convention “Gioco di squadra”, held in the last week by Scuola Superiore di Polizia.

Although the Italian Government and the football istitutions tried to restrain them with many criticized measures (the Tessera del Tifoso, introduced in 2009 by the Italian Home Office can be considered as a catalogation of Italian ultras), the hardcore tifosi are "a critical mass ready to transform in a time bomb. Ultras are unified by the hate towards security forces”, the report says.

What does the report mean with “time bomb”? Men and kids normally identified as “ultras” could convert in a weapon for riots and street clashes organized by extreme-right or left organizations. “They act like corps dedicated to social disorder and permanent opposition”.

According to Domenico Iannielli, director of the Investigation service at the prevention Police, the Italian stadia became more secure in the last years, but that had a side effect: trains, the surroundings of the stadia and service areas on highways are now more dangerous. In 2007, the Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri was shot by a policeman after a clash with some Juventus fans precisely in a service area of A1, the main Italian highway that links Naples to Milan.

Ultras groups concentrate in Lombardia above all, the region where is located Milan (56), then there is Campania (where is Naples) with 50, then Liguria and Toscana with 42. In the northern Italy there are mainly right-oriented ultras groups; in the central regions the tifosi are more left-oriented while in the southern regions “there are dangeous mixture between ultras and Mafias”.

The ultras issue is not just an Italian problem. The prevention in Italy is starting to work properly, so the European games are a sort of relief valve for violent tifosi. “In the international games there is a sense of freedom and impunity. In the last seasons, these kind of matches are the most exposed to clashes and incidents”.

So, home games are safer than abroad games. The data disclosed during the meeting are somewhat reassuring: since the 2007-2008 season to the 2012-2013 the people wounded before, during of after a football game decreased  by a 52%, arrests by a 55%. Although there is an alarm bell that is starting to ring: if we compare the last season with the penultimate, the arrests increased by a 26%. The clashes in Naples during the recent games Napoli-Roma (Coppa Italia) and Napoli-Milan (Serie A) are another confirmation that the violence around the Italian football has not been eradicated yet.

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