You can’t beat being there. There is nothing quite like the bellow of the Olimpico as the crowd roars “Tottiiii” or the last chorus of Venditti’s ‘Roma Roma’. And don’t forget the ritual groping from the local police as you make your way through those two layers of bizarre turnstile security gates.

But the fact is if you’re reading this, there’s a better than average chance you are not currently a resident of the Eternal City. (And if you are, then why the hell aren’t you sifting through all of the local Calcio papers to brush up on your Italian?) In fact, I’m willing to bet that thanks to the magic of internet metrics and the level of enthusiasm that accompanies Roma preseason trips, there’s a fair chunk of the CDT readership that lives within touching distance of the United States’ eastern seaboard.