The northeastern Italian city of Vicenza, an hour from Venice, is well-known for its elegant 16th century architecture. It is also the place where the country’s football icon Roberto Baggio first made his name. Baggio, now 59, was the hero of Italia ’90, the unfortunate fall guy four years later in the USA, and is still idolised in Vicenza to this day.
Football is a religion there, which is why Exeter’s 25-year-old Italy lock Andrea Zambonin was bucking a trend during his childhood. ‘Baggio is the hero in Vicenza,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘He’s seen as a legend, rightly. It’s a huge football city and football is still dominant in Italy, but that is changing.
‘For whatever reason, my family were never huge football fans. I played rugby with friends from the age of five, guys like Jacopo Trulla – who is a wing for Zebre. Mauro Bergamasco was the one I looked up to when I was younger.’
I asked Zambonin if he remembered legendary former Italian flanker Bergamasco’s disastrous stint as a makeshift scrum-half against England in the 2009 Six Nations. ‘Never again!’ he says, laughing loudly. ‘That was crazy! But Bergamasco worked hard and was very smart. I liked that about him.’
Remarkably, Italy will once again be absent from this summer’s football World Cup. It will be the third in a row the four-time world champions will have missed.
Passion for the round ball game there is not declining. But, equally, it is true that rugby is among several other sports on the rise in Italy. Alongside captain Michele Lamaro and superstar centre Tommaso Menoncello, Zambonin is part of a new wave of Italians growing its popularity.
Exeter’s Italy lock Andrea Zambonin grew up in football-mad Vicenzia, but chose rugby
The 25-year-old was part of the Italy team that secured his country’s first ever win over England, in the Six Nations in March
Their first Six Nations victory over England in March was the latest shot in the arm for a country who has ambitions to keep upsetting the established order.
Zambonin started that 23-18 success over Steve Borthwick’s men in Rome and has excelled in his first season in English club rugby with Exeter after moving from Zebre last summer.
He has formed a powerhouse second-row combination with Wales’ Dafydd Jenkins as Rob Baxter’s side push for the last remaining Prem Rugby play-off spot.
Exeter are in pole position to achieve that goal in fourth place, though they face mammoth games with Leicester and Saracens – who sit one place above and below them respectively – in the final two rounds of the regular season.
‘I played football for a couple of years, but always rugby,’ says the 6ft 7in man mountain. ‘I also did other sports – basketball, tennis, swimming. I was always a bit taller than everyone else and also very skinny! There has been a generational change in Italy from some of the older guys like Sergio Parisse and Martin Castrogiovanni.
‘We’re very lucky. This group has all grown up together. We’ve all known each other since we were 16 or 17.
‘Beating England is hard to describe. When the referee blew the final whistle, I was so excited. We were all so happy we’d done it in front of our fans. It was unbelievable. I think we were unlucky in this Six Nations, because we could have got even better results.’
Italy beat Scotland and England and ran Ireland close, but then finished with a poor performance and a defeat by Wales – a team who had gone the two previous Six Nations campaigns without a win. Consistency, Zambonin agrees, is Italy’s next step. That is exactly what he has shown in an Exeter shirt, however.
Zambonin has excelled in his first season in English club rugby with Exeter after moving from Zebre last summer
Exeter are in pole position to claim a play-off spot, sitting fourth with two games remaining, but they are tricky fixtures against in-form Leicester Tigers and Saracens
Stepping up a level by joining the Chiefs from United Rugby Championship strugglers Zebre, Zambonin has endeared himself to the Sandy Park faithful through his friendly nature off the field and hard-working performances on it. With him in the side, Exeter have been revived.
‘I like Exeter. The weather has been good,’ Zambonin says, speaking in the same week temperatures exceeded 30 degrees across the United Kingdom. ‘I was expecting more rain! Fortunately, the time when the weather was worst was in February and March when I was in Italy for the Six Nations. It rained all day then. I’m very happy here. I do find English food very heavy. Lots of sauces and butter! I miss a good, simple pasta. It’s just different in Italy.’
Exeter travel to Leicester on Sunday and host Saracens a week on Saturday on the final weekend. The second of those games looks like it may well end up a straight shootout for fourth. Northampton, Bath and Leicester have already sealed play-off places.
‘The potential in this team is very high,’ Zambonin says. ‘We can’t take anything for granted. We have to keep our standards high. It’s the same thing with Exeter and the Italian national team. We have two huge games.
‘Like everybody, we wish to be in the play-offs. I think we have the potential to do it but it’s going to be hard. Before coming here, I wasn’t expecting anything. It was a new experience, a new league and a new country.
‘I’ve played a lot of minutes. That’s been good. I’ve found a great group of people here who just want to work really hard. I fit in very well.’
Zambonin has handed out Italian nicknames and passed on linguistic tips to his new team-mates in Devon, though there has been one frustration.
‘Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is a clever bloke but he’s annoying me! He’s doing languages and wants to learn Italian,’ Zambonin says. ‘But he thinks he can do it by studying Spanish. He tells me it’s the same and says: “I’ll be able to speak Italian anyway!” I tell him he won’t!’
‘Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (centre) is a clever bloke but he’s annoying me! He’s doing languages and wants to learn Italian,’ Zambonin says. ‘But he thinks he can do it by studying Spanish’
Zambonin gets around his now-Exeter team-mate Feyi-Waboso while on international duty in 2024
Whatever happens in this Prem season, Zambonin will remain a central figure with both Exeter and Italy. Should he stay fit, a first World Cup beckons in Australia next year.
‘We’re not the underdogs with Italy now,’ says Zambonin. Italy have been drawn against double world champions South Africa, Georgia and Romania in Pool B, and, if the form book plays out, are in line to face England in the last 16.
‘We’re still not a top-tier team either but I think we can be a threat to everybody. We need to be confident. What we really need to learn is we can’t drop off even one per cent or take anything for granted.
‘We need to be perfect, otherwise we won’t get results. We’re trying as hard as we can to give Italian people joy. They’re so passionate. We talk about it a lot. It would be great if we could do that.’