Created on August 26, 1914, the Lecture Italy emerged to bring together members of the numerous Italian colony in São Paulo.
In the first months of its life, the new club recruited athletes and trained. To attract players, the association announced training through the newspaper fanfulla, dedicated to Italian immigrants, and promoted an internal tournament with the purpose of selecting the best.
“We have in São Paulo the football club for the Germans, the English, the Portuguese, the foreigners and, finally, the Catholics and Protestants. But a club that is made up only of Italian sportsmen, despite our colony being large, does not exist and has not even been attempted”, says the initial letter, dated August 13th.
Luigi Cervo was the group's mentor. A football fan, he was a member of the extinct Sport Club Internacional-SP and also participated in the Sociedade Dramática e Recreativa Bella Estrella, from which he left alongside some companions after an incident willing to start a new institution.
Cervo was an employee of Matarazzo Industries and disseminated the idea among those he knew.
Other clubs with the same purpose were founded by Italian immigrants during the period, but suffered consecutive defeats in the first matches, which demotivated the members and culminated in the early termination of activities. Palestra Itália, represented by the three colors of the European country's flag, sought to follow another path.
FOLLOW ITALIANISM
