Luciano SPALLETTI
Born in Certaldo in 1959.
After the youth with Fiorentina and some years at Cuoiopelli Cappiano, he arrived at Castelfiorentino, with which he played the D Series and from where he started his career. He then moved on to Virtus Entella, Spezia, Viareggio and Empoli. It will never go beyond the Series C as a football player, but it is from coach that will reach great results.
He begins by guiding the youth of Empoli up to the first team, with which he started from the Serie C (also winning the Coppa Italia), arriving up to the Serie A and then winning the salvation the following year. He trained subsequently without great results Sampdoria, Udinese, Venezia and Ancona, before returning to Friuli. It comes called on the bench of the Rome with which it reaches great goals, between which the victory of two Italian Cup and one European Supercup. He then ends up in Russia, called by Zenit St. Petersburg, where he will manage for 5 years, winning 2 Championships, 1 Cup and 1 Russian Supercup, before returning to Roma, where during the season he will have some frictions with the captain Francesco Totti. After Roma he sits for two years on the Inter bench and from the 2021/2022 he begins coaching Napoli with whom he won the 2022/2023 championship. From the Autumn of 2023 he became the Technical Commissioner of the Italian national football team.
Lamberto PIOVANELLI
Born in Florence in 1964.
Start of the Giovanili del Castelfiorentino, reaching then the First Team in Serie D (teammate of Luciano Spalletti, Andrea Pepi and Luigi Reali with Silvano Grassi coach). It comes picked then from the Atalanta with which it debuted in Serie A. After a little more than a year in Bergamo, he was sold to Pisa, in Serie B, helping the Tuscans to win the promotion in the highest league: his goal sealed in Cremona June 21, 1987, the last day was decisive for the jump category. In the Serie A 1990-1991, in spite of an injury that kept him away from the fields for a long period, he scored 8 goals in 16 matches, numbers that earned him the convocation in the National team for the match of December 22, 1990 Cyprus-Italy in Limassol, valid for the qualifications to the European Championship of 1992 (match in which he didn’t play). It has held for almost twenty years the record of goals in a season with the jersey of the Pisa in Serie B (18 in the year 1989-1990). In the summer of 1991 he was bought by Juventus, but, because of the continuing injury was never deployed in the first team and in November was sold again to Atalanta. It plays other three years in Series B with the Hellas Verona and 1 in C with the Perugia.
Andrea ZERINI
Born in Florence in 1988.
Trained as a basketball player in the youth ranks of Olimpia Legnaia Firenze. He makes his debut in the first team, playing 19 games in Serie B of Excellence 2005-06. But his launching pad was Castelfiorentino where he played three seasons in B2. He then signs for Ruvo di Puglia Basket, with whose jersey he played two Serie A Amateur championships. In the 2010-2011 season, he was the best stopper and the eighth best rebounder in the league. In the 2011-12 season, he moves to Basket Brindisi, where he gained the promotion to the top division. In 2016, his move to Società Sportiva Felice Scandone Avellino is made official, while in 2018 he moved to Basket Brescia Leonessa and subsequently to Napoli and Derthona. He also counts 3 appearances in the major national team.
OTHER NOTABLE PEOPLE
Riccardo NERI, born in 1989, began playing with the First Lever Football of Castelfiorentino at the age of 6 years.
In August 2005 he left for Turin to play for Juventus. In June 2006, after overcoming Fiorentina in the final, the Juventus student team won the championship. Unfortunately, a few months later, a tragedy occurred: on December 15, during a training session at the Vinovo sports center, Riccardo and his teammate Alessio Ferramosca tried to recover some balls that had ended up in the water, and slipped into an artificial lake. The temperature of the water was freezing and the two boys, who tried in vain to climb back up, died of hypothermia. The Association “Riccardo Neri & Alessio Ferramosca” is born, to support the care and alleviate the suffering of children with diseases, and to Riccardo and Alessio is dedicated a Memorial. Finally, on October 9, 2016, the City of Castelfiorentino named the Municipal Stadium after Riccardo Neri.
Andrea PEPI, born in Siena in 1964. He began his career first in the youth and then in the first team at Castelfiorentino, in Serie D; in the 1985-1986 season he was bought by Atalanta, in Serie A. He subsequently played in Serie B with Cesena and in Serie C with Virtus Entella and Siena.
Walter CIAPPI, born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1952, but grew up in Gambassi Terme (FI). It has been a goalkeeper, that leaving from the juveniles of the Castelfiorentino has succeeded in reaching the Serie B with the jerseys of Cesena, Pisa, Taranto and Campobasso and in Series C with Prato, Giulianova, Sangiovannese, Virtus Francavilla, Lucchese and Spezia. It has been for years collaborator of the trainer Bruno Bolchi.
Camilla CINI, born in 2006, resident in Gambassina but originally from Castellana, took her first steps in women’s football with Castelfiorentino and then joined Empoli and subsequently Parma where she played in the Primavera team with some professional appearances in Serie B. She also wore the shirt of the Italian Under 17 Women’s National Team.
Quinto BERTOLONI, born in Avenza, in the province of Massa Carrara in 1927. After his beginnings in Castelfiorentino, he made his debut in Serie A with the jersey of Pro Patria and then of Torino. He has also dressed the jersey of Salernitana in Serie B. It has become then trainer.
Piero BARONCINI, born in Florence in 1941. He started from the youth team of Castelfiorentino to then pass to Empoli with which he debuted in Serie C and then disputed some championships between Serie A and B at Messina and Taranto. It became then trainer.
Pierluigi CENCETTI, born in Barberino Val d’Elsa in 1946. It passed from the youth of the Castelfiorentino to those of the Fiorentina where it will remain for four years, winning also the shield 1968/1969. He then played in Serie B with Brescia and Arezzo and in Serie C with Siena and Livorno.
Stefano RABAGLIETTI, basketball player born in Florence in 1983. He began his career in the B2 series at Castelfiorentino and, after several years in B1, he reached the top league with Upea Capo d’Orlando.