THE FLORENCE ROWING TRADITION SINCE 1886

In Italy, modern rowing "debuts" on the 31st of March 1888, year in which the "Italian Rowing Club", is founded in Turin and drafts the first "Code of Regattas" adopting the term "Reale" (Royal)in 1891. Still in Turin, among the Unions of Clubs which gathered at a Congress, on the 25th of June 1892, the International Federation of Rowing Clubs was established. The first Florentine rowing club was officially formed in 1886 with the name “Firenze” ("Florence") and the following year, the 12th of May 1887, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral façade, among the numerous city events, in the afternoon at 3.00 pm rowing competitions were held on the Arno. The participating clubs were: "Firenze" from Florence, "Salvatori" from San Romano, "Limite" from Limite sull'Arno, the ""Società Ginnastica Livornese" Sebastiano Fenzi "and" Alfredo Cappellini "from Livorno. In 1898, among the sections and clubs 'affiliated' to the Tuscany chapter, which is based in Livorno, the clubs featured in the Yearbook of the “Regio Rowing Club Italiano”, headquartered in Turin, in the Galleria Subalpina were: "Alfredo Cappellini" (Livorno), "Il Remo" (Livorno), "Firenze" (Florence), "Libertas" (Florence), "Pisani" (Pisa).

In the nineteenth-century chalet built on the left bank of the Arno, alongside the Ponte a Santa Trinita, below Lungarno Guicciardini, some generations of young Florentines successfully practiced rowing at all national and international regattas for four decades . Athletes came from every social class: nobility, students, workers, each willing to strive and give their best. The results were soon to be seen.

Hall of Fame

La Società “Canottieri Firenze” was founded on 6th February 1911, as the direct successor to "Libertas", founded in 1890 (whose shirt was adorned with the Lily of Florence), and of the "Florentia". All branches of the same tree, from which a club dedicated to the famous navigator and explorer "Amerigo Vespucci", born in Greve in Chianti from a Florentine family, bloomed.

"Canottieri Firenze" took on the heraldic colours of the City of Florence which also distinguish the club’s uniform: white with three alternating red bands.

In 1913 the first Italian titles arrived. The newspaper Lo Sport del Popolo commented: "(...) in the eight-seater jole competition,here is the style largely based on the momentum, the lightness, the soft and rhythmic recovery, the nervous drive on the water surface".

But what sacrifices! Furthermore, travel costs were often borne by the athletes themselves.

"Canottieri Firenze" moved to its present location under the Uffizi Gallery in May 1933.

As you can see, the history of Florentine rowing has been intertwined with that of national rowing since the start.

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The two world conflicts

1914 While rowers from all over Italy were preparing to face the Italian Championship, the First World War broke out. We no longer went by boat, therefore, but to the Front; no more oars, but weapons; no more sweat, but blood: even that of our twenty members, fallen in the "race of the homeland".

No less tragic were the wounds inflicted by the Second World War, whose war Front, restored civil life by leaving Florence in August 1944. Among the first immediate signs of rebirth was the appearance of our boats on the Arno, lining the river in the apocalyptic scenario of the ruins of the ancient buildings adjacent to Ponte Vecchio.

The flood: 4 November 1966

As disastrous as a war, the Florence flood was an event which is now tragically known in every detail. At dawn, on 4th November 1966, most of the city woke up submerged in four to six meters of water. The Arno and its tributaries, had been rising for over a week due to uninterrupted rain, crossed the banks during the night, invaded villages and the countryside upstream Florence and throughout the Upper Valdarno.

A flood was about to hit the city, reaching a speed of sixty kilometers an hour.

Located as it is below street level, the head office of "Canottieri Firenze" was completely submerged for over 24 hours and remained filled with water in the following days. When it was possible to return, our worst fears were confirmed: only the perimeter walls had remained intact.

The recovery was immediate.

Each of the 350 members at the time, worked relentlessly: many holding paddles and pickaxes to remove tons of mud that the river had deposited everywhere, as heavy as their pain. From these simple gestures, the rebirth of "Canottieri Firenze" began, and with the few boats of the social fleet which had not been shattered by the fury of the deluge, -God knows how they escaped - two months after that tragic day it was possible to repeat the traditional "New Year paddle ": up and down in front of the main site of the rowing club, like every First of January, uninterruptedly since 1911.

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The Palio Remiero of San Giovanni

On June 28 1981 the first edition of the Palio di San Giovanni was held, promoted together with the Society of San Giovanni Battista, for the occasion of the patron saint of Florence: San Giovanni Battista (24th June).

The banner, painted by master Luciano Guarnieri, represents a small bar pushed with the "stanga", used for the transport of the river's sand.

The competing crews wear the colours of the four historic Florentine neighbourhoods: White (Santo Spirito), Green (Saint Croce), Blue (Sain Giovanni), Red (Santa Maria Novella). The first Palio di San Giovanni was won by the Rossi of S. Maria Novella.

The vile attack in Via dei Georgofili: 23rd May 1993

A huge explosion in the middle of the night, close to the Uffizi Gallery, shook the city. The news dismays the whole world.

Some victims were mourned; damage to the artistic heritage was incalculable.

Another tragic date entered the history of "Canottieri Firenze".

The "Giovanni Soffici" Trophy

In November 1993 the “Giovanni Soffici Running Trophy”was Instituted in memory of our beloved member Giovanni Soffici, in substitution of the “Flood Race Trophy”.

The race is held throughout the hills surrounding Florence, it is slightly longer than 12 kilometers and ever since the first edition it has always seen our members, both young and “differently young” challenge the rowing team members.