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Rating: Federico Buffa, known as “the lawyer” due to his degree in Law, is a journalist and sports commentator but above all the most loved and appreciated storyteller in the Belpaese. His long career began at the end of the seventies during the UCLA Summer Season, where he studied sociology, and eventually joined the court of master Aldo Giordani. Buffa was a sports agent for a brief period, managing some female basketball players, including Debra Rodman (older sister of Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman), before becoming a freelance journalist.
He started on the small screen, combining his early basketball commentaries with journalistic activities for the monthly magazine Superbasket, in a continuous professional crescendo. Working first with Franco Arrigoni as the second voice for the commentary of NCAA basketball matches and then with Flavio Tranquillo for the NBA, Buffa began to show his storytelling skills, engaging and capturing the audience’s loyalty right from the start.
This will be the path that leads him to the world of theater, a passion that Buffa carries forward parallelly with his television activity, which over the years has allowed him to tell many iconic sports stories in a unique and engaging way. His latest work, the documentary for Sky Sport “Federico Buffa racconta Gigi Riva, l’uomo che nacque due volte”, enabled him to win the Special Award at the Cicognini Prize.
Aldo Grasso said of him: "he is an extraordinary storyteller, capable of making true culture, that is, establishing links, creating connections, opening digressions, with an enveloping and evocative style."
On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, Federico Buffa returned to the theater with his latest show, “La Milonga del Fútbol,” starting from the Manzoni of Milan, where he will close the tour next October. Accompanying him is Maestro Alessandro Nidi, providing piano notes, and Mascia Foschi, a singer with an energetic and alluring voice.
The protagonists are the deeds of three left-footed legends of Argentine and world football, which entwine with the history of Italian football. The journey begins with the steamboat Mendoza, ferrying the destinies of many Italians, who in the early 1900s sailed from the port of Genoa to seek fortune in Argentina.
On that ship was also the Cesarini family from Senigallia, particularly young Renato, one of the many “tanos” who would make history in the world’s most beloved sport. From him came the expression “Zona Cesarini,” for “El Tano’s” ability to decide games in the final minutes of play. With him, Juventus won five consecutive league titles in the thirties, and thanks to Cesarini, another great Argentine, Omar Sivori, arrived in Turin, following an imaginary thread leading straight to the myth of Diego Armando Maradona.
Sivori, nicknamed “El Cabezón,” a brilliant and unruly talent who brought luck to River Plate and would bring Juventus three more league titles between the fifties and sixties. He will be the protagonist of an iconic shot, captured as he tried to console El Pibe de Oro after his incomprehensible exclusion from the 1978 World Cup squad.
Diego Armando Maradona, who was the idol of a nation victimized by General Videla’s dictatorship and who would make history in Italy, gifting Napoli of Ferlaino its first two historic league titles.
Cesarini, Sivori, Maradona. Three names that give chills to true lovers of “fútbol,” three men who share the same origins and the same Italian blood, with the same ability to partake in an extraordinary collective tale.
Buffa explains that football was born in England (“it fell out of the pocket of the English”) but love for football was born in Argentina. That the best sports stories of those years are inevitably linked to the sea and ships. He does this through the constant tango of his narrative, accompanied by the notes and dance steps of his travel companions on stage. He makes us laugh with near-comedic incursions. He makes us cry and reflect while he whispers words recounting the last hours of life and fame of El Pibe de Oro, showing black and white photos that then fade into the most beautiful goal the grassy field has ever seen, during that magical Argentina - England match in 1986 in Mexico, as if it were a poetic and abrupt demonstration of submission.
We see before us the steps of the milongueros, their off-field follies, their swagger, and their visceral passion for the game.
All thanks to the incredible interpretative capacity of a professional who, through his passion and expertise, has transformed sports storytelling into art.
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