Napoli football fans celebrate as club turns 100

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Fireworks light up the city as SSC Napoli celebrates its centenary. Naples erupted in celebration on Friday and Saturday as SSC Napoli marked a century since its founding, with church bells, a fan procession through the city centre, and a fireworks display over the bay bringing the milestone to a close. Founded on 1 August 1926, the club chose that date to launch its centenary festivities, opening proceedings at 19.26 on Friday with the bells of a hundred churches across Naples ringing in unison, followed by a blue-coloured smoke display, or "Fumata Azzurra," to signal the start of the party. Between 19.26 and 20.26, a "Processione Azzurra" wound its way roughly a kilometre through Via Toledo, Via Santa Brigida, Via Verdi, Via San Carlo and Piazza Trieste e Trento. Fans take to the streets Organised supporters staged their own celebration a day ahead of the club's official event, setting off from Piazza dei Martiri on Friday afternoon. Organisers estimated at least 10,000 people filled the square, a site with particular resonance for Napoli's history: the club's headquarters stood there between 1985 and 1991, and it was from a balcony on that street that Diego Maradona, his teammates and then-president Corrado Ferlaino once showed off the trophies from the 1987 and 1990 league titles and the 1989 UEFA Cup. The fan march ended at the Rotonda Diaz on the seafront, where an area was dedicated to Maradona's memory and a stage hosted a marathon of music and talks, with contributions from writer Maurizio De Giovanni, former president Ferlaino, former captain Giuseppe Bruscolotti and Diego Maradona Jr, alongside performances from musicians Clementino and Nto. Screens showed archive footage spanning three eras of the club's history: the 1960s and 1970s, the Ferlaino-era Scudetto years, and the more recent presidency of Aurelio De Laurentiis. At midnight, fans waved scarves, flags and torches as fireworks lit up the seafront. The celebrations were interrupted briefly when a 4.7-magnitude earthquake that struck the Campi Flegrei area west of Naples at 19.46; organisers said there was some fear among the crowd but no panic, and the event continued largely undisturbed. Official centenary event in Piazza del Plebiscito The club's official centenary ceremony follows on Saturday evening and will be staged in Piazza del Plebiscito with gates opening at 18.00 and the official event beginning at 20.45. A large stage will host a multimedia show tracing the club's history through archive footage, music and testimony from figures who shaped its story, including Ferlaino among the club's past protagonists. Free pizza and drinks are to be distributed to fans from 20.26 in nearby Piazza Municipio, where giant screens relaying the events in the Plebiscito live. From 22.30, the "Notte Azzurra" light show will illuminate the facades of the Royal Palace, the Maschio Angioino, Castel dell'Ovo and Castel Sant'Elmo in blue, before the night closes with a synchronised fireworks and light display over the seafront and Piazza del Plebiscito, and a DJ set. All the events are free to attend, organised by the club with roughly half a million euro in joint backing from the Campania region and Naples city council. SSC Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis told regional broadcaster TG3 Campania he wished the club "another hundred years on top of the world," while the club marked the day on social media by wishing supporters "another hundred years of indelible emotions." A dedicated exhibition of club memorabilia also opened in Castel di Sangro, where Napoli are currently based for pre-season training. Photo credit: Marco Ciccolella / Shutterstock.com