Brenna: “My friend Meroni was an artist. He enchanted with his dribbling and designed scarves”

The strong friendship with Gigi Meroni and the passion for Turin are mixed in the words of Graziano Brenna, president of the Fondazione della Seta di Como where an exhibition on the late Granata champion was staged from mid-December to the end of January. The eighty-year-old entrepreneur, who has had great success working with silk in his career, was in the past a central defender and played in the Promotion before succumbing to injuries. As a child he played with Meroni on the church pitch in the San Bartolomeo district of Como and then followed him throughout his career.

Brenna, who was Gigi Meroni to you?

“A friend with whom I grew up on the pitch of Libertas SB, in the San Bartolomeo district of Como. He was three years older than me because he was born in 1943 and I was born in 1946: we spent a lot of time together, even if we never played in the same team because as children I was in the Pulcini and he in the Esordienti of Libertas; when I arrived in the Esordienti, he was in the youth team of Como; when I went to the youth team of Como, he moved to Genoa. But we always stayed in touch: think that from Genoa or Turin on his day off he used to come to the bar here in Como where all of us who had been at Libertas and had received communion and confirmation in the parish of San Bartolomeo met.”

Meroni as a footballer was…

“A phenomenon. It was nice to see him play. Both at Genoa and Turin. I became a Granata fan thanks to him.”

What kind of player were you?

“A central defender who marked and sometimes… beat”.

“Bremer. Or rather, Coco, given the grenade faith. After Como I went to Sondrio for two years and hurt my meniscus several times. So I said stop.”

And he began his career as an entrepreneur.

“I did everything alone because my mother was a housewife and my father was an employee. At 31 I opened my first company. Now, almost 50 years later, I’m still here, with my son and daughter who work with me”.

Let’s go back to Meroni and the trips to Genoa.

“With his brother Celestino, also a footballer but less gifted than Gigi (he played in the De Martino del Como team, ed.), we went to Genoa to the bar in the Foce district which was frequented by footballers from Genoa and Sampdoria. They were opponents in derbies, but during the week after training they played bocce together and I was with them. Fantastic memories.”

Gigi gave the best of himself to Torino.

“In 1966-67 he played a super season: he scored nine goals in the championship and joined the national team. It was a spectacle. How many matches did I go to see: his dribbling was a pleasure for football lovers.”

Was he also there for Torino-Sampdoria 4-2, on 15 October 1967, the day of Meroni’s death?

“Yes, I was there. When we were leaving Turin in the car to return to Como, the radio announced that Domenica Sportiva would not be broadcast because a player had had an accident. They didn’t say who it was or which team he played for and then there were no cell phones, social media or the Internet. With us, but in another car, was Celestino who learned the news of Gigi’s death when he arrived home and left immediately for Turin. I discovered what had happened the next morning turning on the radio. A shock, a crazy shock.”

The match after Meroni’s death he went to see Toro playing the derby against Juventus.

“It was a crazy afternoon, with flowers thrown onto the pitch from a helicopter, and Combin’s hat-trick which paved the way for Torino’s victory. Meroni had played seven derbies and had never won one: I consider it a sign of destiny that that 4-0 came a few days after his death and remains the biggest of the victories with the Bianconeri.”

Why did you decide to remember Meroni with the exhibition held in Como?

“We exhibited around a hundred objects including photographs, sweaters, bags, paintings and shoes as well as the scarves that Gigi had designed and we produced two hundred examples adding his signature: they were a success. I had a few objects that Meroni had given me over the years, but many came to me from Gigi’s sister, Maria, and her husband, with whom I have remained in contact over the years. We are discussing whether to do the exhibition again next year, perhaps not in Como. Let’s see…”.

Did Meroni also have an artistic streak off the pitch?

“He came from a poor family and his shoemaker father had died young. At thirteen, after finishing middle school, Gigi was already looking for work to help his mother. The parish priest of San Bartolomeo was Don Giorgio Ratti, brother of the owner of the most famous textile factory in Como: it was Don Giorgio who asked his brother to find him a job. From thirteen to fifteen he studied to design scarves, then football and training became very pressing commitments and he abandoned work to dedicate himself to ball.”

Do you have other friends in the world of football?

“With Tardelli, who lives in Como, we sometimes went to dinner together, but I also met Gentile, Mascetti, Governato and Braglia. All very good people.”

Did your passion for Turin remain even after Meroni’s passing?

“Yes and the best memory is the 1975-76 championship. That was an exceptional Toro who gave us great emotions.”

What do you think of Turin today?

“I know President Cairo and it was an honor that he came to see Meroni’s exhibition. He is a good person, an entrepreneur and he does the best possible for Torino, in a football that has become a business. I take my hat off to his management: he took us out of bankruptcy and we have been in Serie A for years now. I am not one of the fans who criticizes him and I would like anyone who disagrees with his management not to offend him: he doesn’t deserve it.”