The art of Nerazzurri memorabilia

Nostalgia and Inter often go hand in hand, in every area. Whether it's the launch of a new shirt or the celebration of a historic moment, the Nerazzurri know how to bring out the best memories from their fans. Umbro knows it well and Patta knows it well, two brands that have teamed up to recreate the Inter shirt of the 1993-94 season that will be launched tomorrow at the Patta Store in Milan in the Galleria Unione - to participate in the event just download the Patta's app and register. Mattia Buffoli, special guest at the event and founder of Interabilia, a page dedicated to the most incredible memorabilia of the Milanese club, also knows it well. We had a chat with Mattia who revealed the secrets of his passion and some small previews of tomorrow's event.

Interabilia tells a different vision of football, a vision and a conception of "memorabilia" in some ways closer to American sports culture. It is not just a fanpage, it goes beyond playing football and transforms "simple cheering" into a real culture. When and how was your project born?

Interabilia is a project born a year ago to make some of my greatest passions coincide: Inter, collecting and photography. My idea is to propose an Instagram page that is different from the usual fan pages on a team but that offers unpublished content that might have been lost. For this reason, in addition to the jerseys, which are present on the web almost everywhere, I look for particular and little-known pieces that may not have an exaggerated economic value but certainly have historical value for the team and for the memories of its fans.

Interabilia wants to be a time machine that allows fans to go back to the happiest moments in Inter's history and consequently to the best memories of their lives.

Behind this project there is a lot of work, a job that transmits passion. You are also a photographer and a videomaker and the quality of the content (often rare) is always high. How much do your professional skills affect your life as a collector?

Surely "the photographic eye" helps me in the search for the jerseys and pieces that I think are most interesting also from an aesthetic and graphic level. Collecting material on Inter is practically an endless mission because there are so many products on the Nerazzurri and they will never end. For this reason, my choice falls on material that satisfies my favorite imagery and which is mainly made up of graphics and colors that recall the 80s and 90s.

In an interview you said that "being an Inter fan is a school of life". Do you think this concept can also be applied on a stylistic level? What is the aesthetic component that most appeals to you about Nerazzurri memorabilia?

Excluding the shirts that follow their own logic, I am attracted to how the Inter logo has been revisited and reinterpreted over the years. I am fond of the 80's with the biscione and the reinterpretation of this in different graphic keys is probably the thing that leads me to look for as much as possible relics of that period.

We know that the memorabilia you care about most is the flag of Inter 13th Scudetto.
What if you had to choose the shirt you are most attached to?

I might sound repetitive but I'll tell you the 1989/90 second championship jersey. Having the first clear memories of Inter at that time made me grow fond of everything that takes me back to those years.

The most obvious and obvious question, but also the most interesting to ask to those with a historical memory like yours: which are the best shirts - or the craziest ones if you prefer - in the history of Inter in your opinion?

The best 5 shirts for me are:

1. The second shirt by Uhlsport from 1989/90 for the reason I told you earlier and for the minimal and iconic style;
2. The third jersey by Umbro from 1997/98, that of Ronaldo and Uefa's first year. It is simply perfect;
3. The second jersey by Nike 2009/10. I can still see it worn by the boys as they race for the Camp Nou after the "best defeat in Inter's history" against Barcelona in the second leg of the Champions League;
4. The first jersey by Nike from 2001/2002. Nightmare year, but the side band that incorporates the snake skin makes it really special;
5. The second shirt by Nike from the 2007/08 centenary year, the red crusader one, to be clear.

Among the craziest shirts I choose:

1. The third shirt by Umbro from 1995/96. A green shirt with blue stripes has never been seen in the history of Inter;
2. The third shirt by Umbro from 1991/92/93. An almost fluo yellow shirt with an almost psychedelic pattern. What else?
3. The fourth kit by Umbro from 1994/95. Used only in some summer friendly matches, this red jersey was the "mother" of the 2012/13 second jersey. Moratti has always been a big fan of Manchester United and for this reason he had asked the sponsor to also create a red shirt that recalled that of the Red Devils. As mentioned, it was practically never used, instead the second red jersey was used in 2012/13, creating quite a few controversies among the fans for that color that was a little too reminiscent of "cousins".
4. The third jersey by Nike 2016/17. The "Sprite" jersey, we hope to never see such a thing again!

The oblique band that Patta and Umbro brought back to life appeared on the Inter shirt for the first time in the 55-56 season, which lasted until '67, reappeared in '70 and then again in the crazy 1993-94 season. Inter have always been "revolutionary" and traditionalist at the same time with the shirts. How do you rate the new kits this season?

When I saw the previews I was very skeptical, I think that the tradition of a club must be respected even if it is right to look to the future and to hitherto unexplored markets. I must admit, however, that as soon as I saw the first shirt worn I fell in love with it. The second, however, I still cannot digest it. I greatly appreciated the reference to the Memphis Group and I think it has been perfectly expressed in some parts of the collection (see the pre-race jersey) but in the second I think they have a bit wrong. The third is the reproduction of what I consider to be a masterpiece: the third shirt from 97/98, you could hardly go wrong ...

We know it will be difficult, but we try. I know that on Friday 25 September, on the occasion of the launch of the new Patta and Umbro shirt to be held at the Patta Store in Milan, you will also be there with memorabilia from that period. What small preview of what will you bring to the store?

Surely the two shirts from the 1993/94 season, the Nerazzurri one and the white one with the band that inspired the one of Patta x Umbro. There will be commemorative scarves from that year and other goodies from a few years earlier. I won't tell you anything else, you have to go and see for yourself tomorrow!

Mattia has an incredible passion, which manages to combine his work with one of the things he loves most. The collaboration between Patta and Interabilia has also given rise to a giveaway to which you can participate by clicking on this link.