Why is an R the symbol of Vicenza?

What is now known as L.R. Vicenza was one of the teams to define in many ways the origins of Italian soccer. In fact, it was the first professional team in the Veneto region, having been founded in 1902 by the principal and physical education teacher of the Lioy High School, as well as the first to have a mascot in the flesh at its games, the famous Gatton Gattoni. But the peculiarity that has defined the identity of the Vicenza team is linked to its relationship with the Lanerossi textile brand, so much so that it became the symbol on the white-red jersey. 

When soccer teams were still not allowed to sign sponsorship contracts with brands, because at the time it was argued that it would sully the purity of the competition, some clubs, in order to get around this prohibition, began to combine the name of a company with the corporate name of a sports club, joining the social names. After World War II and the end of Fascism, it was more and more common for certain companies to integrate teams as divisions of their companies, in fact including them in their books. This was done, for example, by the Agnelli family with Juventus and later by Lanerossi, after the teams of Schio and Piovene, with Vicenza in 1953. The Berici team thus became to all intents and purposes the professional team of the textile company, bearing the logo composed of an R in blue thread on the left side of the game uniform. 

A combination that has brought luck to both, with Lanerossi accompanying the "biancorossi" during the best seasons of Vicenza's history, such as the second place achieved in the 1977/78 championship. Or the many champions who passed through the Romeo Menti, from a young Paolo Rossi to a Roberto Baggio without a pigtail, all with the R embroidered on their chests. Lanerossi remained the owner and sponsor of Vicenza until 1989, when the textile company was bought by the Marzotto group and the team sold to Pieraldo Dalle Carbonare and renamed Vicenza Calcio. It was precisely at that time that the club was experiencing one of the most difficult moments in its history, when it was involved in a betting scandal that cancelled the promotion to the top division obtained on the field and the following backlash made it slide further and further down the lower division.

Vicenza Calcio returned to Serie A with Renzo Ulivieri and then Francesco Guidolin on the bench, achieving a feat by raising the Coppa Italia in 1997 with the jersey signed by Biemme and crossed on the chest by the sponsor Pal Zileri but without the iconic R, which will finally return on the red and white striped uniforms for the 2006-07 season. It will remain in place until 2018, when Vicenza Calcio, one step away from bankruptcy, will be taken over by Diesel boss Renzo Rosso, who renames it Lanerossi Vicenza Virtus again. The new patron, very attentive to the letter R, will bring it back as the new corporate logo, continuing a tradition that through soccer has gone beyond the simple sponsorship becoming an integral part of the team's identity.