Juventus hospitality

Juventus are Italian football's most successful and most divisive club, a thirty-six-time Scudetto winner whose black-and-white stripes have been hated and adored in equal measure for over a century. Founded in 1897 by Turin schoolboys, the Bianconeri became the de facto club of the Agnelli family and, by extension, of Fiat-era Italy, a national institution rather than a regional one. The fanbase stretches from Sicily to the Alps, which is precisely why the rest of Italy delights in their downfalls. On the pitch, Juve built their reputation on a particularly ruthless strain of Italian pragmatism: defensive organisation, a refusal to lose, and a knack for grinding out 1-0s that opposing fans found infuriating and their own found beautiful. The Trapattoni and Lippi eras delivered European Cups and a swagger; the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 brought relegation to Serie B and a humbling that the club's identity was forged anew from. The return to the top flight produced nine consecutive Scudetti, a streak unmatched in Italian football. The ultras culture is concentrated in the Curva Sud at the Allianz, with the Drughi and other groups providing the choreography, though Juve's relationship with its ultras has been turbulent. The great rivalries are layered: the Derby della Mole against Torino splits the city; the Derby d'Italia against Inter is the league's most loaded fixture, born of mutual loathing rather than geography. Wearing the bianconero shirt comes with a peculiar burden, the expectation that anything other than winning is failure. For visiting fans, that expectation is itself the spectacle.

The Allianz Stadium opened in 2011 on the site of the old Stadio delle Alpi, and it changed Italian football architecture overnight. With a capacity of around 41,500, it was the first modern, club-owned, athletics-track-free stadium in Serie A, and the difference is felt the moment you walk in. The stands are stacked close to the pitch, the acoustics trap noise rather than letting it drift, and the sightlines from every seat are exceptional. The Curva Sud houses the most vocal Juventus support, the Curva Nord is given to visiting fans on European nights, and the two long sides fill with the club's vast middle-class membership. Outside the ground, the J-Museum charts the club's history with surprising honesty, and the Continassa training complex sits next door. The setting, on the northern fringe of Turin in the Vinovo and Continassa districts, is suburban and slightly anonymous, but the stadium itself is a statement piece. For a fanbase used to playing in concrete bowls, the Allianz feels almost English in its intimacy.

Turin is Italy's most underrated city, a baroque capital tucked under the Alps that spent decades hiding behind its industrial reputation. Fiat built the city; the Agnellis ruled it; and the result is a place with proper Parisian boulevards, arcaded streets that run for kilometres, and a quietly aristocratic confidence. Piazza San Carlo and Piazza Castello are the grand drawing rooms, the Mole Antonelliana houses the National Cinema Museum, and the Egyptian Museum is the most important outside Cairo. Food-wise, Turin is the home of bicerin (espresso, chocolate and cream), of vermouth, of bagna cauda, and of an aperitivo culture that practically counts as a meal in itself. The historic cafes along Via Po, places like Caffe Mulassano and Baratti & Milano, have been pouring drinks since the era of Italian unification. Turin gave Italy its first capital, its automotive industry and, depending on who you ask, its national football team. Visiting fans expecting a gritty industrial town find instead a refined, slightly melancholy city that takes its food, its coffee and its calcio extremely seriously.

Fly into Turin Caselle Airport, around 16km north of the city, with the SADEM bus running to Porta Nuova station in about 45 minutes. Milan Malpensa is a viable alternative with a direct coach to Turin. The Allianz Stadium is awkwardly placed for public transport: tram line 9 or 10 to the terminus at Marche, then a shuttle bus on matchdays, or a taxi from the centre will run around 20-25 euros. Allow 45 minutes either way. Pre-match, do as the Torinesi do and start with an aperitivo in San Salvario or around Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where bars like Smile Tree and Affini lay on substantial spreads. For something more traditional, the trattorias of the Quadrilatero Romano serve agnolotti del plin and vitello tonnato. Avoid driving on matchdays; parking around the stadium is restricted and frustrating. Wear neutral colours if you're not committed to either side, particularly on Derby della Mole days when Granata and Bianconero scarves are read carefully.