Málaga Club de Fútbol, currently sitting 4th in the second tier of Spanish football at the time of writing, is a club that represents a city breathtaking in both its history and beauty. The team itself won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002 and reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2013, beating AC Milan and Porto before being stopped by German giants Borussia Dortmund by just a single goal. Since then, the club has faltered somewhat. However, with strong backing from th

The Yellow and Reds. The Wolves. La Magica. Few football clubs are so tightly bound to the identity of their city as Roma. Founded in 1927 through the merger of several Roman clubs, the idea was simple: create a footballing force powerful enough to challenge the wealthy giants of northern Italy. Since then, Roma have become one of Italy’s most passionately supported clubs, winning league titles, European trophies and producing legends such as Francesco Totti, the eternal capt

The Griffin. The Red and the Blues. The Old Fool. Founded in 1893, they are officially the oldest football club in Italy, and for large parts of the early game they dominated Italian football. But Genoa’s history has rarely been smooth. Periods of glory were followed by chaos, relegation, revival and collapse all over again. It was the great Italian journalist Gianni Brera who affectionately labelled them Il Vecchio Balordo — “The Old Fool” — a nickname that captured both th

This club takes the award for the most Instagrammable of hometowns. And in Italy, the competition is fierce. The Amalfi Coast is famously beautiful, with dozens of natural harbours and bays, colourful medieval housing running up the cliffs, and the sparkle of the sun off the Mediterranean. Many a model has been photographed with these iconic views in the background – and many a tourist has drunk more than their fair share of the local delicacy, limoncello, made from the area’