Felice Milano

FELICE MILANO
A NATIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER BORN IN VALENTANO

Felice Milano was born in Valentano the 23th May 1891.
He came to life in a house in what was then Via Umberto I, now Via A.Gramsci. His father, Giovanni had moved to Valentano from Massa Lombarda together with his wife Antonietta Arrigoni for work, as he was a police officer. At that time, Valentano housed the Royal Magistrate Court as well as the Local Prisons. In this regard, we have to remember that those were the years of the fight against the brigandage, of the search of the famous bandit Domenico Tiburzi, from the near Cellere. Tiburzi had been hiding in the area around Valentano (Cellere, Ischia di Castro, Montalto di Castro) but, above all, through the thick and impenetrable “Selva del Lamone” and, from here, towards the territories of the Tuscan Maremma.

When the family moved to Valentano there were three of them, Giovanni, his wife Antonietta and their eldest son Giuseppe. Soon after their arrival, Felice came to life.
On the base of the few documents found in the local registry office, we are not able to say for how long the family lived in Valentano nor where they moved when they left.
Some articles on the history of the Italian football but, above all, evidences coming from the “Historical Archive of the Italian Sport” in Modena, as well as the website of the “Pro Vercelli” football team, tell us that Felice Milano lived for a few years in Vercelli, where he played in the football team which won the Premier League in the years 1909, 1911, 1912 and 1913. His brother Giuseppe was at the time trainer and kicker of the “Pro Vercelli” team so that people used to call them Milano I (Giuseppe) and Milano II (Felice).
Two younger brothers were footballer as well: Aldo (Milano III) and Remigio (Milano IV). Aldo played for the “Pro Vercelli” in the seasons 1919-1920 and 1920-1921. He was shot to death around the half of the ’20s, probably for political reasons. Remigio played for the same team from 1920 to 1927 and after that in the “Pro Candelo”, a small team in the province of Biella. Both the younger brothers were born in Revere (Mantova) where the family had last settled.

Felice Milano played in the National Football team in the same years when he played in the “Pro Vercelli”.
He took part to the following matches: Turin, 17th March 1912 Italy vs France, score 3-4; Genova, 22nd December 1912 Italy vs Austria, 1-3; Paris, 13th January 1913 France vs Italy, 1-0; Turin, 1st May 1913 Italy vs Belgium, 1-0; Wien, 15th June 1913 Austria vs Italy 2-0. In the matches of Turin (1912-1913)and in the one of Wien (1913) the two brothers, Giuseppe and Felice, played together.
From an edition of the magazine “Sport Illustrato” of 1916 we learn that Felice Milano died gallantly in Zagora, in November 1915, on the left bank of the river Isonzo. He was an infantry lance-corporal. Nowdays, Zagora is in Slovenia. In the edition of 15th February 1916 of the magazine “Sport Illustrato and the war”, we find a picture of the dead footballer.
His brother Giuseppe became trainer of the National Team in the years 1920-1921.