He loved Roma and he loved the Azzurri. A huge fan of the Giallorossi and the game of football, Gigi Proietti accompanied the Azzurri for some of their most important moments in recent years. Born in Rome, the actor’s funeral was held at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Montesanto on the Piazza del Popolo after a secular ceremony held at the Globe Theatre in Villa Borghese. Club Italia secretary Mauro Vladovich reminisced on some anecdotes involving the grand maestro: "In 2000, at the Euros in Belgium and the Netherlands, as we went from the hotel to the training ground, we watched ‘Fabbre da Cavallo’ (Horse Fever) on the bus with the group of various Roma players - Totti, Di Biagio, Di Livio - who knew the film by heart and managed to involve the rest of Dino Zoff’s team. Watching the film became a rite of passage and helped to bring the team together even more."

‘From France to France’ sequences the journey from the bitter end to that tournament in 2000 and Trezeguet’s golden goal to the World Cup in Germany in 2006, when Italy beat France in the final in Berlin. "Watching Proietti’s films is something that has carried on throughout the years," Vladovich said, "and Marcello Lippi was a big fan. He wanted to meet him, so we were invited to watch a show at the Teatro Brancaccio and he, at the end of the show, invited us to his dressing room for twenty minutes. Despite the pair supporting different teams, there was always a strong sense of mutual respect between Lippi and Proietti. Proietti was a fascinating person; he was just like you saw him on stage. There was no difference between the show and reality. So we loved a lot in the national team and many Azzurri have been inspired by him in some way."