Pisa and its red shield: the story behind the cross on the chest
No doubt about it: Pisa is the revelation of Serie B. The Tuscan club, this year, sees it touch the top of the standings and also command it in terms of the number of games won. Anyone who also tends an eye to the aesthetics of football, will have noticed even only from the photos of the young and much talked about Lucca, that in the Pisa shirt there is a coat of arms on the chest. Well, contrary to the analogous case seen on the shirts of Spezia (which presents the war shield), that of the Pisans has a historical origin far from football.
Red and with a white cross in the center, the coat of arms that the Tuscans carry dating back to 1017 and is the Pisan cross, symbol of the city, according to which legend has it that it was donated by Pope Benedict VIII when the Pisans moved to Sardinia to free it from the Saracens . It is an element that, in the shirt of the Pisans, was not present in all three kits since 2016/17 when Kappa sponsored Pisa and, in a year where Adidas has returned to be inspired by the past, the German brand and the company are not thus he could not bring back another important historical reference for the city. If he were to return to Serie A, the emblem, in addition to the shirt, could also take on a romantic meaning, as well as “political”. Yes, like the Lion for Venice, the Pisan cross is the symbol of the glorious Maritime Republic and for this reason, in the 2019/20 season, Pisan fans were forbidden to display the banners at the stadium. Nothing, however, concerns national disintegration and in fact the question did not last long, symbols of fact the exhibition has no political significance. On the contrary, it underlines the link between the city and the fans.
Source: nssmag.com