“If You Make Me Leave, I’ll Do Something Crazy to Come Back Here Again” – A Prisoner’s Threat Just to See Francesco Totti

image source here attribution to The Captain Morgan
Totti mentioned in his book the story of a man who wanted to stay in prison longer just to see him. The story happened shortly after Italy won the 2006 World Cup when Totti was scheduled to visit Rebibbia prison in Rome as part of a charitable initiative.

Totti said: “We went to visit the prison with players from Roma and Lazio and toured the cells where each person was detained. Everyone was extremely happy because seeing a player inside the prison was like seeing the Pope.

There was this boy who kept screaming ‘Me, me, me’ and calling out to me, and it was clear he wanted to get a picture with me no matter what it cost. No one allowed him to pass, but he started making his way forward, trying to get close to me and take a picture. I didn’t really understand why he was so determined about it.”

“If you make me leave, I’ll do something crazy to be sent back to prison again!”

According to Totti’s autobiography, the prisoner felt extremely sad when he learned he would be released before Totti’s visit to the prison. He wrote a letter to the prison warden requesting to stay an additional period inside the prison.

He wrote in the letter: “Even if I live another hundred years, I won’t get another chance like this to take a picture next to Totti.”

When Totti finished his prison visit, he was told about the prisoner’s story. Totti added:

“They let me know that he was supposed to leave a week earlier, but he requested to stay an additional week because he knew I would go there, and he told them: ‘If you make me leave, I will do something crazy to come back here again.'”

This story reveals the secret of Italian football passion – it’s not just a sport, but a spiritual connection that transcends all boundaries. In Rome, where football runs through the blood like ancient history, devotion to players like Totti becomes almost religious. The prisoner’s willingness to extend his sentence captures the essence of Italian football culture: a love so deep it defies logic, where meeting your hero is worth any sacrifice. This is why football in Italy, and especially in Rome, creates legends -used to- that become eternal symbols of their cities.