George Young scours Italian football’s lower leagues so you don’t have to! At Levico Terme on the shores of Lake Terme he discovered another hidden gem of the Italian game.
In 2016, I became a Levico Terme fan.
It happened on the final day of the season, a sunny Sunday in May when I was spending a day by the lake and noticed that there was a Serie D game on barely 100 metres away at the Stadio Viale Lido.
So, I wandered up to the only gate, paid my €10, and found myself getting wrapped up in the party atmosphere at this charming little ground.
A spa town setting
Levico Terme is a small spa town (that is the ‘Terme’ part of the name) in the Trentino region of northern Italy. It is an Alpine town which, until 1919, was a part of Austria and a popular resort with the great and the good of Habsburg society. They were drawn by the healing waters, first discovered in the silver mines high above the town, and the idyllic lakeside setting.
Lake Levico is one of the most beautiful in the Alps, its wedge shape fringed on two sides by dense forest, whilst the shallow waters at the southern end make the beach popular with families. In the old town, the architecture is more reminiscent of Austria than the rest of Italy, particularly the onion dome of the church and the elegant columns of the Grand Hotel Imperial.
With a population of around 8,000 in a region which has never played a big part in the story of Italian football, US Levico Terme has an understandably modest footballing history.
Football reborn
The club was founded in 1958 under the intriguing name of Unione Sportiva Rinascita (Sporting Union Rebirth), a name which it kept until 1975 and which was only changed after “much discussion in the town” according to the club’s own website. By that time the club had already achieved its first promotion and then, between 1981 and 1983, they won back-to-back titles to reach the fifth tier for the first time. The 1983/84 season saw Levico travelling further afield, beyond the boundaries of Trentino, to clubs such as Cittadella (now in Serie B). It proved a step too far for the Termali, who were relegated at the end of the season.
They remained in the footballing backwaters until 2014/15 when they won a remarkable promotion to Serie D. Having trailed leaders Sankt Georgen by 8 points at halfway, they went on a run of 12 wins in the final 15 games to win the title by a single point.
This meant that the 2015/16 season would be an historic one for Levico Terme, their first in the fourth tier, which is essentially the top of the Italian non-league game. They were placed in Group C, made up largely of clubs from the Veneto region, including some huge names fallen on hard times in the form of Venezia and Triestina. Without doubt, the signature result of that debut season for Levico came early on with a 2-1 win at the Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste, closely followed by an resolute 0-0 draw at eventual champions Venezia.
Levico’s form fell away dramatically in the middle of the season but they were able to scrap their way to some vital points through March and April, securing survival on the penultimate day. This meant that the final game, at home to Tamai, would be a celebration of the club’s “salvezza“, staying up against the odds at the first attempt.
Which is when I walked in!
Celebrating a memorable victory
So often your first impressions of a place are shaped by your mood and on that day I was feeling relaxed after a few hours by the lake. The sunshine was warm and stepping through the gate I found myself right next to the bar. Not a simple hatch dispensing warm beer in plastic cups, this was a large room with a typical Italian marble-topped wooden counter, with a well-used coffee machine and a cabinet filled with various types of sweet pastries and cakes.
One wall was covered with the league ladders for the division, all kept scrupulously up to date. I was soon furnished with a cold glass of Forst beer, which I was able to take outside onto the terrace and enjoy at a table, leafing through the free programme and watching the teams warming up. Glorious!
Prematch, I got a bit too comfortable in my chair so when the time came to find a place in the single covered terrace running along the south side of the ground all of the places in the shade had already been taken. Not ideal for someone with a distinctly northern European complexion. I managed to squeeze in at the far end next to Levico’s ultras, the Pitbull Group. They greeted the teams onto the pitch with a chorus of proud songs and a handful of pyro canisters. Their noisy support continued through the first half, punctuated only by visitors Tamai taking the lead, and peaking when their side equalised.
After the break, Tamai missed in truly spectacular fashion when a player was left so unmarked he might have thought he had turned up on the wrong day! Shortly afterwards, a home defender was sent off for hauling down the centre forward who dusted himself off, stepped up, and shanked his penalty well wide of the target to widespread laughter.
The standard of football in Serie D can be very variable: in comparison to even the National League in England the players are nowhere near as fit or strong but they can do exotic continental things like trapping the ball and passing it to an opponent. Late on, to demonstrate this, a Levico substitute won the ball and bent an exquisite pass around one centre back and behind the other, allowing his team-mate to run on and poke the ball past the keeper for the winner.
The celebrations were wonderfully unselfconscious, the players jumping on the fence at the front of the stand (a Serie D requirement and an upgrade which had meant Levico had to begin the season in nearby Pergine), fans swirling scarves above their heads, and yet more yellow and blue smoke.
At the end of the match, the party really got going, with players leading the fans in song whilst volunteers carried trestle tables onto the pitch, followed by an enormous barbecue, with everyone invited to join in. It was a fantastic reminder of the joys of football as a community, where everyone feels like they are part of the club.
Since that day in 2016, Levico Terme have played a further six seasons in Serie D, on a couple of occasions even finishing above the biggest team in the region, AC Trento. They were relegated in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic curtailed the season but they immediately bounced back, before returning to the Eccellenza last year.
Visiting Levico
I can heartily recommend a visit to Levico.
The town is a beautiful place to stay, with a huge array of hiking and cycling options to choose from, or you can just laze by the lake. The town’s railway station is on the Valsugana line between Trento and Venice and on your walk to the ground you will pass the Pedavena brewery.
There is plenty of history around here too, particularly from World War I when this valley was close to the front line between Italy and Austro-Hungary. The summit of the Piz Vezzena, the distinctive peak overlooking the town, was turned into a fort with gun positions threatening the town more than 1,500 metres below.
Levico’s Viale Lido ground is a real gem, with craggy mountain tops visible in all directions, with the single stand on one side and the bright yellow clubhouse facing the road. The club’s beautiful badge, featuring a sailing boat, is frescoed on the wall. Games are usually played at the traditional time in Italy of Sunday afternoon.
If you get the chance, take a trip to Levico. You might just become a fan, like me!
words and images by @GiorgioGiovane