Anyone who’s been to a football game in Italy knows it just hits different. If aliens are watching us, they might have concluded that what happens in Italian stadiums is the most important thing to our species.
This sense of profound importance is precisely what Koulaxizellis is trying to capture in his photobook, Il Cuore di Calcio, set to be released in late 2026 or early 2027.
“I guess the overall project is capturing something before it’s gone,” he explained. “It’s about football, but it’s about the culture; it’s about ritual.”
Koulaxizellis believes that in a world where “most people consume the game in three-minute highlight reels”, something gets lost.
“I think what we’re losing is getting together with your mates, going to the stadium, not looking at your phone while you’re at the ground - really being consumed in it,” he said.
“I think in Italy, it’s still got that a little bit.”
An iconic mural of Diego Maradona in Naples. (Photo: Peter Koulaxizellis)
Koulaxizellis’ love for the Serie A began in childhood. He still remembers catching the tail end of the Italian news on SBS every Sunday morning while he waited for the highlights. “I chose Italian football also because it was the first football I ever watched,” he shared.
“[There was] Maldini and Batistuta and Baggio, it was the golden years of Italian football, and I think for many people my age, that’s how people fell in love with football.”
The photographer, who grew up in a Greek family, lived next door to Italians who tricked him into believing they were football clairvoyants, able to predict future results and scores. The reality was much less impressive: the highlights Koulaxizellis watched were always a week behind.
“They were big Juve fans. We used to play in the backyard or in the street and they would say, ‘I bet you Juve’s going to beat this team,’” he recalled.
“Then I’d go back on Sunday and watch it and be like, ‘They’re always right!’”
Rather than one book containing photos from all over Italy, Koulaxizellis hopes to make 20; one dedicated to the football culture within each region.
“It’s a one-club city,” he explained of Napoli, when asked why he decided to begin the project in Campania, “Many of the other cities in Italy have two clubs, or even more sometimes.
“I think it was a great place to start; I was there in 2023 after they won the Scudetto. The amount of people that had fresh tattoos,” he reminisced, “And the whole city was decorated in Napoli blue.
“What struck me was what one club means to one city, and how the everyday person gets that joy from their football club.
“If I’m successful enough to do a second volume, I’d love to do Lombardy, because I’d love to contrast north and south. Milan looks a little bit more cosmopolitan, a bit modern, where Napoli is fiery and passionate, I think that’ll be a good contrast.”
Peter Koulaxizellis during his most recent visit to Naples
For the photographer, the way football blends with religion in a city like Naples is a must-capture.
“That kind of stuff I find really cool, which here in Australia we find really weird,” he said.
“You know, the praying for a goal or praying at a mural of a player - or the old lady crossing themselves under a mural of Maradona - is something so foreign to us.
“Nobody’s going to pray under a mural of Nathan Buckley,” admitted the Collingwood fan, “It’s just not in our culture.”
While Koulaxizellis will be in Naples to take his own photos in March next year, the project is also in collaboration with locals.
“I’ve reached out to many photographers in Naples, and many have been really generous and given me some photos I can use on my socials,” he shared.
“I’d love to collaborate with people from Naples [and have] photographers show me where the best spots are to photograph the city or [meet] fans at the game [and] photograph their rituals.”
The book won’t only contain photos of Napoli fans, as Koulaxizellis is dedicating an entire chapter to the provinces of Avellino, Benevento, Caserta and Salerno, all with clubs currently playing in Italy’s lower divisions.
Benevento supporters pack the curva during a Serie B match in 2019
The photographer believes these leagues provide supporters with a more authentic and old-school football experience.
“It’s a bit more raw,” he said, “If there’s a goal and people think it’s offside, that debate happens and the story of that goal carries on after the stadium.
“Where with VAR and a hundred different replays and slow motion, it sort of sterilises that a little bit.”
So, if you too are enchanted by the mystical and inexplicably beautiful world of Italian football, follow @ilcuoredicalcio on Instagram to stay up to date with the project.
