‘You can’t help but get swept up’: joy as Napoli near first title for 33 years

N aples has exploded into delirious celebrations as its football team edged closer towards clinching its first Serie A title in 33 years – a victory that would resonate well beyond football for this often-derided southern Italian city.

Napoli had hoped to claim Scudetto glory with six games still to play, but a 1-1 draw against Salernitana meant it has had to delay the official party by a few days.

Still, with the team 18 points ahead in the table and the league title all but certain, fireworks were set off, cars hooted incessantly and people danced in the streets and on the balconies of their homes – many waving flags featuring the image of the late Diego Maradona, who was Napoli’s star player when it won its last Scudetto in 1990 and who has an immortal presence in the city.

“We haven’t had this for 33 years!” said Giuseppina Scotti as she danced and sang along to a classic Neapolitan song blaring from a nearby balcony. “It’s difficult to describe the importance but it is just something we feel inside – even if you’re not a football fan, you can’t help but get swept up in this incredible joy.”

It is hard to find someone who is not a football fan in Naples, a traditionally impoverished city long dismissed by the northern Italian powerhouses and which only rediscovered its pride during Maradona’s phenomenally successful seven-year period with Napoli in the 1980s.

Wearing a blue crown and sitting on a stool in the middle of a packed, narrow street in the Forcella area of Naples’ historical centre, Concetta Esposito, 63, started partying hours before Napoli’s game against Salernitana.

“My late husband was a big Napoli fan, so I am celebrating for him too – I want to live this special moment,” she said. “Naples has always