After days of waiting, Naples burst into celebration Thursday after the city's football club clinched its first Serie A title in more than three decades.
The finish was anticlimactic, with SSC Napoli securing its first championship since 1990 with a 1-1 draw against a middle-of-the-pack Udinese squad.
With the title, the southern Italian city of Naples, which stands in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius volcano, erupted into celebration. There were no immediate reports of violence or injuries during the celebrations.
SSC Napoli has been one of the strongest in Serie A all season, finishing its first 15 games with 13 wins and 2 draws and building a commanding lead over its main rivals. The squad ended the 33rd week of the season with a 16-point lead over Lazio and 17 points over Juventus.
The team, among the leaders of the 20-team Serie A for years, finished second in the 2018-19 season, fell to seventh the following year but then improved in each subsequent season: fifth in 2020-21, then third last season.
But the years since the team's last championship in 1990 have also seen struggles: SSC Napoli spent most of the late 1990s and early 2000s playing in Serie B, Italy's second division, and for two seasons -- 2004-05 and 2005-06 -- it even played in the third division, Serie C.
The city began planning for a widespread celebration a week ago when it became mathematically possible for its favorite sons to clinch the championship. But those hopes were dashed Sunday when SSC Napoli tied struggling Salernitana 1-1 on the road. Then, on Wednesday, the team missed another chance when second-place Lazio beat mid-table Sassuolo 2-0, keeping their ultra-slim title hopes alive.
As on Sunday and Wednesday, the historic center of Naples was sealed off from traffic Thursday in anticipation of the celebration, and the game against Udinese was screened on giant screens set up in Diego Maradona Stadium, named for the former Naples great who died in 2020.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock Thursday, a cheer spread through the stadium followed by fireworks and celebrations in the city's streets. Fans paraded through the city's main thoroughfares carrying giant blue-and-white team flags and shouting slogans. Others hung out of cars honking horns and playing music loudly.
The title will be the first for Naples since the 1989-90 team led by superstar striker Maradona, one of the world's all-time great players. The latest championship was the third ever for SSC Napoli, joining the 1986-87 squad and the one from 1989-90. The team was founded in 1926.
Earlier this week, Naples Prefect Claudio Palomba, Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, and SSC Napoli Chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis held a special security meeting to ensure the highly-anticipated celebrations.
