The mountain retreat – upholding an Italian tradition

The wheels on Josh Doig’s plane had barely kissed Italian tarmac before he was whisked off to the Alps for a lung-pumping, leg-burning pre-season training camp with his new team-mates.

“They said to me if you sign, you can go home, pack a bag, come back,” laughs the Scotsman, reflecting on his arrival at Hellas Verona in July 2022. “I was expecting to be drip fed into it.

“But literally I signed, then two hours [drive] straight up to the mountains, not speaking the language – it was terrifying, but after a few days I loved it.”

The ritiro pre-campionato – translated as pre-season retreat – is something of an Italian tradition.

Clubs have long swapped hot and humid summers for fresh mountain air and picturesque surroundings in the north of the country, spending weeks preparing for the new season at high-altitude camps.

“You have almost six weeks off with your family and then 17 days away,” adds left-back Doig, now with Sassuolo in Serie A and speaking from his fourth such retreat, this one in the quiet Alpine village of Ronzone.

“When you’re in the mountains it’s just head down and work hard. You feel dead on your feet every day but it is good because you know you are getting something out of it.

“It is a shock to the system but it gets you right back in the swing of things with your fitness and the football way of mind.”

While many clubs, particularly those in the Premier League, now opt for lucrative global tours, the ‘ritiro’ remains relatively unscathed heritage in Serie A.

“Every player has grown up with this kind of tradition,” explains Genoa sporting director Marco Ottolini. “Maybe we have more mountains than other nations!”

This summer, only AC Milan ventured outside Europe, playing in Hong Kong and Australia, with several clubs setting up retreats at their own training bases and 12 still making a trip to the slopes. Antonio Conte’s Napoli are even doing it twice.

“You have better air, oxygen,” says Gokhan Inler, technical director at Udinese, who have made a short hop across the border to Austria. “You are more controlled with food and sleep. It helps build the group, new players come in faster.”

Italian disciplinarian Fabio Capello recreated a similar retreat with England before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, grilling the squad away from friends and family in the small village of Irdning, tucked away in the Austrian Alps.

Others, Italian football journalist Daniele Verri explains, would use the remote camps to control their players’ behaviour or stop them partying in pre-season.

“Fans wouldn’t even know where their clubs would go,” adds Verri. “Now you get full houses.”

Over time, the culture has changed – as well as open training sessions for fans, most clubs allow players’ families to visit, the camps have become shorter and there are more team-building activities. Genoa’s players, for example, have spent time rafting and on mountain walks.

“In the past it was much longer,” explains Ottolini from Genoa’s base at Moena, in Val di Fassa, where they spent 11 days.

“There were clubs that stayed in the mountains for three weeks and for me that was something that was damaging the mental health of the players. Now you have to manage the breaks, give some free time to do different activities.”

Training methods have evolved too, of course.

“When I was younger it was more mountain runs, up and downs, more physical, 1,000m runs back and forth,” says former Switzerland midfielder Inler, who spent eight seasons in Serie A with Udinese and Napoli.

“Then slowly it changed. Some coaches, like Rafael Benitez, liked to run but on the pitch with a ball.

“Now on the pitch you can do everything – more people, more scientific materials, you can check more data. Before you had GPS, but basic things, now you see sprints, distance, all these things to fine-tune the body.”

For Patrick Vieira’s Genoa, a typical day – when there are no friendlies – consists of a morning and afternoon session, around which the players can use the spa and swimming pool, or do some recovery work with the physio.

“Patrick has brought a lot of self-consciousness and he transmits this kind of charisma, this calmness in the right way that is good for everybody,” says Ottolini.

“Patrick is very organised, he gives the right breaks to the players and then in that hour when there is training he wants their full concentration, their full focus.”

At Sassuolo’s camp, it has also been daily double sessions under Italian World Cup-winning left-back Fabio Grosso.

“It is full on,” explains Doig. “We always do running or gym in the morning and always ball work in the afternoon. The gaffer is good with that.

“Now it is getting more tactical. Tactics, games in the afternoon – it gives you something to look forward to after the hard session in the morning.”

Of course, there is still always time for golf.

“There is a beautiful course, Dolomiti Golf Course, five minutes’ drive away,” smiles Doig. “Whenever we get an afternoon off, we’re straight there for like five hours.”

‘It’s an event’ – why Napoli have two camps

As well as friendlies and open training sessions, clubs lay on events for visiting fans – Genoa boss Vieira spoke in the square at nearby Alpine resort Canazei and players took part in a table football tournament.

“It is traditional for the supporters,” adds Ottolini. “They like to come with families to watch games and training, to stay a bit closer to the team compared to what they can do during the season.”

So popular are the retreats among Napoli fans, they have put on two this summer.

“In the 1980s, all Italian teams went to the mountains – fresh air, to build team spirit. It was really just between team-mates,” says Naples-based journalist Vincenzo Credendino.

“Now the retreat of Napoli is an event. They train during the day and then in the night there is always an event.

“One night cinema, another night the presentation of the team, another there is Conte with his staff answering questions from people, another with four players, a disco night – it’s a holiday village, really!”

But there is also an economic incentive for clubs.

Conte’s side spent 11 days in Dimaro Folgarida, in Trentino’s Val di Sole, before heading for two weeks in Castel di Sangro, in the Apennine Mountains in Abruzzo.

“For the regions, it is good to have Napoli because Napoli bring a lot of fans who go to hotels, restaurants, they kayak, mountain bike,” explains Credendino.

“It’s a lot of money – it’s like a real business for the regions for Trentino and Abruzzo. They pay Napoli to come but they earn much more.”

Verri adds: “For a mountain resort looking for visibility, it can mean a lot to host a top club’s pre-season training camp. It attracts publicity and above all fans, lots of fans.

“That is why it can be worth attracting teams for the retreat with sponsorships, free accommodation and various benefits.”

It begs the question – would clubs consider ditching the traditional retreats for more lucrative overseas options in future?

“For the player it is hard,” says Inler of that option. “After a long season, you go to a tour and it is a big fatigue, especially mentally. Smaller clubs, you are here in Europe, then it is less fatigue.

“If you are higher, if you are a better player, everybody wants something from you, the club needs to promote you, needs to promote the club – the higher you go the more you have to do.”

• Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast