Fiorentina’s centenary celebrations lasted four days. They began with a supporters’ march through Florence’s historic centre on Wednesday evening and continued through Saturday afternoon’s home fixture against Frosinone. Although the club was officially established on 29 August 1926, a long-standing inconsistency in records has led fans to traditionally mark the anniversary on the 26th.
This year, the festivities began even sooner. Thousands assembled beneath the marble frontage of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella on 25 August before watching fireworks beside the river Arno at midnight. Club president Giuseppe Commisso addressed the crowd, while former midfielder Borja Valero was among those in attendance.
Over the following days, several of Florence’s famous landmarks were illuminated in purple, reflecting Fiorentina’s traditional home colours. The team has played in purple since 1929, having spent its first three seasons wearing shirts divided into red and white halves. A limited-edition version of that original jersey, costing €180, was sold out within two hours.
The Fiorentina squad wore the commemorative shirts against Frosinone. Ahead of the match, many celebrated former players and coaches attended a lunch at the club’s Viola Park headquarters. Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa, Adrien Mutu and Cesare Prandelli were among those who later travelled to the stadium, where a festive reception awaited them.
Not everything was ready as planned. Fiorentina had hoped that work on the Stadio Artemio Franchi would be finished for the anniversary, but construction delays left the Curva Fiesole, traditionally home to the club’s ultras, closed. The supporter groups instead organised an impressive display at the other end, recreating Fiorentina’s first crest amid thousands of purple flags.
Optimism remained strong. Although Fiorentina had opened the season with a 4-0 defeat against Roma, their supporters could see reasons for encouragement. More than €120m had been spent rebuilding the squad with promising young players, including Ivory Coast midfielder Christ Inao Oulaï and highly regarded teenage defender Víctor Valdepeñas from Real Madrid Castilla. Arthur Atta and Mateo Pellegrino also arrived after breakthrough campaigns with Udinese and Parma.
Several notable players joined on loan as well. Real Madrid had paid €45m to recruit Argentinian winger Franco Mastantuono from River Plate the previous August, and the 19-year-old was now preparing to feature in Fiorentina’s attack. Radu Dragusin and Álex Jiménez also arrived with Premier League experience from Tottenham and Bournemouth.
New head coach Fabio Grosso was always likely to require time to bring the revamped squad together. Even so, a home match against newly promoted Frosinone appeared to offer an ideal chance for the new arrivals to make an impact while celebrating the club’s 100th anniversary.
Instead, the occasion unfolded very differently.
Fiorentina made an encouraging start. After an untidy opening spell, they took control, with Mastantuono on the right and Albert Gudmundsson on the left repeatedly finding space behind the defence. Jiménez added further threat through overlapping runs from full-back, and a home goal seemed increasingly likely.
The first warning came after 25 minutes when Frosinone counterattacked from a Fiorentina free-kick. They entered the penalty area with three attackers against two defenders, but Seydou Fini hesitated, turned back and lost possession.
Frosinone striker Antonio Raimondo reacted furiously to the wasted opportunity, but only a minute later he put his team ahead. Giorgi Kvernadze drove down the left and just managed to keep the ball in play before pulling it back for Raimondo, who converted at the near post.
Fiorentina responded positively. Atta tested Lorenzo Palmisani, while Mastantuono and Valdepeñas both struck the left post. Mastantuono also produced an exceptional piece of control to rescue a pass played behind him, using one heel to bring it under control before guiding it past his marker with the other. The crowd called for a penalty when Gabriele Bracaglia challenged him, but the winger quickly regained his footing, nutmegged another defender and hit the far post with his shot.
Those fine margins proved decisive. Rather than equalising, Fiorentina conceded again in the 38th minute when Bracaglia headed in from a corner. Their momentum disappeared, and Grosso’s substitutions failed to inspire a recovery. Raimondo completed the 3-0 scoreline in the 68th minute, controlling the ball on his chest before finishing elegantly with the outside of his boot.
It was a remarkable result. Frosinone had only just escaped relegation to Italy’s third division in 2025. They had been due to face Salernitana in a relegation play-out until Brescia’s points penalty lifted them higher in the Serie B table. The Italian sporting press expected another difficult campaign the following season, but manager Massimiliano Alvini used those predictions to motivate his players at the beginning of their surprising promotion run.
Frosinone’s achievement also reflected well on Alvini, whose previous Serie A experience consisted of an 18-match winless spell with Cremonese four years earlier. Despite his understated profile and the fact that he still keeps an active LinkedIn account, he earned this opportunity through 25 years of consistent managerial work, mostly in Italy’s lower divisions.
Nevertheless, Fiorentina remained the central story. On the weekend of their centenary, they recorded the poorest start to a Serie A campaign in the club’s history. Two defeats had left them with a combined goal difference of minus seven, and never before had they opened a top-flight season with consecutive losses without scoring.
The early results may eventually prove to be an anomaly. Fiorentina were still some distance from repeating the misery of the previous season, when they failed to win any of their opening 15 matches and collected only six points. Even so, this was far from the celebration Giuseppe Commisso had imagined. His father, Rocco, had worked to reshape Fiorentina after buying the club in 2019, investing heavily in Viola Park. Promoted as Italy’s largest sporting complex, it provides improved facilities for the men’s team, women’s team and academy.
Following Rocco’s death in January, Giuseppe expressed his determination to continue that work. “Our family has committed a total of €1.1bn to Fiorentina,” he said on Saturday. “This summer, Fiorentina spent more on new players in a single transfer window than at any other point in the club’s history.”
He delivered those remarks from the pitch during the centenary presentation after the final whistle, but the event could not avoid the impact of the defeat that had just taken place. Many supporters stayed to welcome Batistuta, Rui Costa and other returning club icons, applauding as they shared memories with the crowd. The current squad, however, was met with loud whistles.
“On Fiorentina’s 100th anniversary, I am not saying that we have reached our destination; I am saying that we are beginning once more,” Commisso said while alternating between English and Italian. “This new chapter will mark the start of Fiorentina’s Renaissance.”
It was the kind of ambitious message supporters wanted to hear, though accepting it became considerably more difficult after another deeply disappointing result.
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