Farewell to Peo Maroso, the symbol of Varese football

“Mr Varese” has closed his eyes for ever. In the night between Saturday and Sunday, the man, who, more than any other, could claim to be the symbol of the Varese team, Peo Maroso, left us.

He had been ill for about a year, and had limited his appearances in public for some time; his last appearance was at the presentation, in Masnago, of trainer Fabrizio Castori: it was customary for him to welcome the new trainer to a position that, quite rightly, he considered his.

A player in his youth, then a trainer, on a number of occasions, and then chairman, until he became the honorary chairman (a position he held until the end) to guarantee the continuity between the management of Ricky Sogliano and that of the current Antonio Rosati; Maroso lived through over forty years of Varese’s history, winning several championships. Peo’s life had been a special one, albeit marked, when he was just fifteen, by the tragedy in Superga: his older brother, Virgilio, the idol of the young Peo, played for the great team of Torino. And it is no accident that Virgilio is the name of the first son of Peo, who, logically, should have been the successor to his brother. But on his arrival in Turin, Peo was stopped by a doctor, who put an end to his rise, when he detected a heart problem, which failed to manifest during his career. And so, Maroso joined the Fossanese and Ivrea teams, while continuing to work in the foundry of Fiat; from Piedmont, he moved only for the good of Varese: and so, in 1965, his long love story with the red and white team began. As a player, he lived through some of Varese’s top football moments, those under the chairmanship of Giovanni Borghi (photo: Maroso and Anastasi), and under his son, Guido, Peo became a trainer and immediately carried on the tradition of Varese, who always managed to return to Division A after demotion. Maroso came back to manage the red and whites in the second half of the 1980s, and was still able to score a marvellous promotion from Division C2, to C1, in 1990, one of the rare “sparks” of Varese football in those years.

But even without his being there on the bench, Maroso’s presence continued to be felt in Masnago, even when, in the style of Boniperti, he decided not to watch the matches, or maybe to leave after the start. As he loved to say, from the open windows of his house, he could hear exactly how the game was going. This was Maroso, the chairman of the recovery, when the volcanic Sogliano took over the team, after the earthquake of the Turri era; the two were team mates (in the Varese team, naturally) and it is nice to think that Peo was one of the few able to stem the exuberance of Ricky, who held his old friend in the highest regard.

Now, Peo has a privileged position to oversee the vicissitudes of Varese. And we can only believe that, from up there, still wearing some strange cap to cover his bald head, he will be glancing over towards the pitch in Masnago, to give Castori’s lads an extra boost. Because, if they are going to get back into Division A, they will need a miracle; and Maroso, “Mr Varese”, was the one who got them there before. Ciao, Peo.