Fiorentina were fined 15,000 euro by the Serie A sporting judge on Monday for anti-Napoli chants made by its fans during a goalless draw in Florence on Sunday night.
The chants were found to have been of an offensive “territorial and religious nature”.
Northern Italian fans frequently target Napoli supporters with ‘territorial’ insults such as “Come on Vesuvius” and “Come on Cholera”, often playing on stereotypes of the southern city allegedly being lawless and dirty.
On this occasion the Viola fans also chanted “San Gennaro piece of sh*t”, referring to Naples’ patron saint.
Insults hurled by individual fans against Napoli’s Tuscan coach Luciano Spalletti, who almost came to blows with one ultra, apparently went unpunished.
Previously free-scoring Napoli came to a goalless draw at Fiorentina in their third Serie A match this season on the Sunday night.
The Partenopei had a few chances but nowhere near as many as in their first two games, in which they scored nine goals in total.
The draw means there are now six teams sitting jointly at the top of the table on seven points. They are AC Milan, Lazio, Atalanta, Torino, Roma and Napoli. Reigning champions Inter Milan are behind on six points, ahead of Turin giants Juventus on five, alongside Fiorentina.
Juve held Roma to a 1-1 draw at the Allianz on Saturday to end the Giallorossi’s perfect start to the season. Last year’s champions Milan beat Bologna 2-0 Saturday. Inter, who finished second last term, were defeated 3-1 by a fine performance by Lazio at the Olimpico.
Atalanta won 1-0 at Verona. Torino beat pointless Cremonese 2-1 in Cremona. The other currently point-less team, Silvio Berlusconi’s ambitious Monza, fell 2-1 to Udinese in Monza Friday night. In the other games Lecce and Empolo drew 1-1, and Salernitana thumped Sampdoria 4-0 at home.
