The 1944 Divisione Nazionale, better known as Campionato Alta Italia was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

championship organized by the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

and disputed in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and

Central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central It ...

in 1944 among

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

and

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

teams plus others. The tournament was won by

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, and officially recognized as an "honorary" title by the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

(FIGC) only in 2002, following a long dispute. Following the decision of FIGC in 2002, Spezia is authorized by the Italian Federation to exhibit a tricolour badge on the official jerseys which is unique, being the only example of a permanent one in Italy. The badge has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.

Background

Following the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

conquest of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and later

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in 1943, Italy suffered heavy

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

s by the Allied Powers. The consequent multiple damages on

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s and

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

s imposed to the FIGC to plan a special mixed championship A-B for the 1943-44 season, with three different regional groups to reduce the teams movements. However, at the eve of his dismissal,

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

suspended all sport activities. After Italy defeat in

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, with the country divided by the "Gothic Line", the Italian Football Federation split in two: while the official FIGC remained in the south, under the rule by the Kingdom of Italy, the northern FIGC, ruled by the Italian Social Republic, moved its headquarters to Milan and organized a "campionato di divisione nazionale misto" (mixed national division championship). The so-called ''Campionato Alta Italia'' (High Italy Championship) was the only Italian championship organized on a more than regional basis: in Central and Southern Italy many regional championship were held. Originally, the Roman Championship won by Lazio was part of the Alta Italia qualifications, but the

Liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

changed the plan. The Spezia players had to obtain the status of Firefighters from the La Spezia local command in order to be able to play football games traveling to other cities, as freedom of movement was restricted during war time in Italy. Similarly, Torino Calcio players were allowed to move freely and play football carrying FIAT documents. In 1944 the

Grande Torino The Grande Torino was the historic Italian football team of Torino Football Club in the 1940s, five-time champions of Italy, whose players were the backbone of the Italy national team and died on 4 May 1949 in the plane crash known as the Superg ...

, similarly to Spezia as VVFF, participated with the denomination Torino FIAT. In the northern FIGC's original plans, the winning team in the tournament would have been recognized as Champion of Italy; however; after the end of the championship, a statement from the northern Federation, following political pressure, announced that Spezia wouldn't be awarded the "Scudetto" title. Only in 2002 the Spezia title was officially recognised by FIGC as a decoration. Following the decision of FIGC in 2002,

Spezia Calcio Spezia Calcio is a professional Association football, football club based in La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. Spezia Calcio was founded in 1906 by the Swiss banker Hermann Hurni (or Hurny in some documents), who played for the early Crystal Palace am ...

is authorized by the Italian Federation to exhibit a tricolour badge on the official jerseys which is unique, being the only example of a permanent one in Italy. The badge has a different shape and size compared to the ordinary Scudetto.

Qualifications

Piedmont and Liguria

Standings

Results

Lombardy

Standings

Results

;Tie-breaker

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

advanced to the semifinals

Veneto

Group A

;Standings ;Results

Group B

;Results

Final round

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

withdrew before the start of the round Both Venezia and Verona were admitted to the semifinals.

Venezia Giulia

Standings

Results

Emilia

Group A

;Standings ;Results

Group B

;Standings ;Results

Group C

;Standings ;Results

Group D

;Standings ;Results

Tuscany

Standings

Semifinals

Group A (Piedmont and Lombardy)

Standings

Results

Group B (Veneto and Venezia Giulia)

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

withdrew before the start of the semifinals.

Standings

Results

Group C (Emilia)

Round 1

=Group A

= ;Standings ;Results

=Group B

= ;Standings ;Results

Round 2

VV.FF. Spezia didn't play the semifinals, due to the retirement of Lucchese (the semifinalist of Tuscany), and they were directly admitted to the final.

Final round

Standings

Results

References and sources

*Fabrizio Calzia and Paolo Rabajoli, ''Lo Scudetto per sempre – I Vigili del fuoco della Spezia Campioni d’Italia 1944'', Sagep e Il Secolo XIX

Footnotes

External links

- All results on Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, RSSSF Website. {{Portal bar, Association football, Italy Italian Football Championship seasons

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

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