Around Serie A in 20 Days.... The Podcast - Michael Nimmo

I went to see Milan. Hear about my research into the groups in the Curva Sud, how I got lost and whether there's a correlation between Il Cavaliere spending his money on players and election success

Are football fans slavering savages or simple invested spectators? Probably somewhere in between. Here I look at three examples of the media's portrayal of dramatic instances from the last 15 years.

Catania played Juve. I was a bit worried about the crowd, but mostly about Etna. Did I die in a fiery explosion? Probably not, given that you're reading this.

Juventus, Fiorentina, Albion Rovers, dopamine, scadenfreude and why Rangers makes me think of Emperor Palpatine.

Marvin the Martian, flying donkeys and the sun on my face. What's more to want?

Florence, , Leonardo Da Vinci, black magic and politics. What do they have in common? You can hear about them all here!

I went to see Napoli play Milan. Hear about it here,

So, as you heard last time round, fan trouble started to be an issue for the police and State. What did they do to react? Find out here!

A wee shorty to keep you tiding over today, a longer episode will be up tomorrow. This one's not about an actual match, but rather a wee bit of background information about fan-police problems.

So, going down to Rome a friend of mine had suggested i try to get stabbed for some publicity for the book. Would I follow this terrible suggestion? Of course I wouldn't. Listen anyway!!!!

Livorno, home of communism, was my first stop of January 2014. I killed so much time I almost missed the first goal, then managed to miss the last one. All in all, a weird day. good though.

Pretty much the only bad experience I had of supporters, just before Christmas I was in the Curva Pisani to see Atalanta

I was approaching the mid-way point of my football watching tour, and so it was time to watch Roma. How much would a ticket cost? Too bloody much, but in the grand scheme of things was worth it.

I went to Reggio Emilia to watch Sassuolo play Bergamo's team, Atalanta. Confused? Don't be - just listen to this latest episode of Around Serie A in 20 Days!!

Gli scaligeri don't have a great reputation for friendliness towards other people, would this be a problem? Would there be an angry, pitch-fork waving mob? How would Trianspotting help me out in a queue for the toilet? Find out here!!

Continuing the theme of me watching football, I went to the Tardini to watch Parma play Milan. Parma have since imploded in debt, but when I went everything was hunky dory. The good old days, huh?

Next up on my nine-month road trip was Bologna. Would I see an angry mob? Would I get the right train? Will you have read to the end of this summary?

This chapter is a wee bit different from the norm. It's not about any specific team, but rather a bit of an overview and history of Italian fans and the environment that their modern iterations were created in.

The second match of my Italian football odyssey saw me make the 15-minute journey to watch Sampdoria play Roma in the company of my friend, Simone.

The first away day called for a trip to Turin to watch Torino. Would I find someone to interview? Would I look like an undercover policeman? Would I get soaked in the torrential August rain? Listen to find out more, and if you like what you hear, buy the book!

'What's all this then?' is the introductory chapter of Around Serie A in 20 Days, the book I wrote chronicling my trips around Italy's football stadia in 2013/14 stadia in search of the soul, spirit and sanity of football fans