The disappearance of Rocco Commisso leaves a deep void not only in the world of football, but also in the world of those Italians in America who build solid bridges between two shores of the Atlantic. It was the emblem of a generation that has been able to transform sacrifice into opportunities, work in ransom, passion in destiny.
Rocco arrived in America at only twelve years, along with his mother, reaching his father who already lived in New York. Grown up in Brooklyn, he was an Italian child who soon learned to move between two cultures: Italy in the heart and America as a horizon. He studied and worked, never losing sight of the value of commitment. It was football, his great passion, to open a decisive door: thanks to sport he won a scholarship at Columbia University, where he graduated, starting a path that would take him far, but never really far from his roots.
From there the entrepreneur was born. Commission built its empire by establishing Mediacom, one of the most important American companies in cable television, then the internet and digital services applied to health. An extraordinary success, built with vision and tenacity, but never left it from the idea of the “give back”. Rocco felt the need to return: Italy, football, sports that gave him the opportunity to study and become what he was.
Whoever comes from Italy in America grows with a bond that never breaks. Italy remains a constant presence, a deep call. For Rocco Commisso, that call had a precise name: football. First the experience as the owner of the New York Cosmos, then the awareness that the American sports system did not fully reflect its idea of merit. Winning without being able to get in the category wasn’t enough. Rocco believed in the work that is rewarded, in the effort that brings concrete results.
The occasion of life came with the purchase of Fiorentina. He entered Serie A with a clear goal: make history, bring back the Viola where she deserved to be, win a trophy, change the fate of a club full of past and expectations. In a few years the Fiorentina of Commisso fought on several fronts, reached finals, won with the youth, touched the dream with the first team. Coptics have not arrived, not yet, but the story does.
He wrote it outside the field, even before the field. The renovation of the Artemio Franchi Stadium, the construction of Viola Park, the largest and most modern sports centre in Europe, an investment of more than one hundred million euros. A place designed to live, grow, hand down values: generations and generations together, the future next to memory.
Rocco Commisso was also a man I met personally, and will remain forever in my memory. A strong, direct man, all of a piece. One of the most rarely exist today. Deeply linked to the family and faith: in the sports center wanted a chapel, a church, dedicated olive trees to Catherine, his wife, constant presence at his side. Often with him there was his son, who for a time also lived in Florence, a city that Rocco really loved.
He loved being loved, Commissioner. He was looking for recognition, affection. In Florence he found it, sometimes overwhelmingly, less. And I think he suffered at times when he didn’t feel understood. I remember her anger when her ideas were interpreted differently from how she thought it. But I also remember his joys, wide smiles, contagious enthusiasm. He was an innovator, always ready to bring new energies. As soon as he got off a transocean flight, he ran immediately to the sports center, without stopping, often along with Catherine. He was ready to work.
He has never forgotten Gioiosa Ionica, the Calabrian country where he was born, nor the importance of investing on young people, offering them the opportunity to grow and build a future through football, just as it had happened to him.
Rocco Commisso will miss Florence, he will miss Fiorentina, he will miss those who still believe in the values of work, merit, faith and family. Hope remains, almost a lay prayer, which from up there can finally see his beloved Viola raise a trophy. That would be the final he deserved.
L’articolo Rocco Commisso, farewell to the president of Fiorentina proviene da IlNewyorkese.
