Unfortunately, I think very few of you know much about my background, as I tend to play stuff close to the chest on the fearsome internets. I am Florentine on my Dad's side, born to an American mother. We all lived in Florence until I was 6, then moved to California, and I have been in the US ever since, except for occasional (but wonderful) visits back to Florence, where I would catch up with family and go to the stadium.

With this background, I have a strong but strange relationship with the city, the people, and (it goes without saying) Fiorentina... And it's a relationship with which I think many members of this online community can sympathize. I am both there and not. I am both Florentine and not. I am viola inside... but outside? Does it matter?

I'm leaving today to go back to Florence for the first time in 3 years, to see a 91 year old grandmother, and accompanied by my Dad for the first time since I was a kid. But that's not the good stuff, that's just the context. For you guys, the good stuff is: 5 different articles directly from the capital of Tuscany, with a report on Fiorentina - Juve from the stadium, to a look at the "Salah Fever" sweeping Florence, and hopefully a couple big-name interviews. If those interviews don't come through, well, I guess I will go try to take pictures of Borja Valero's cat.

I hope you good folks will join me as I try to get a sense of what's going on at the heart of this club and this fanbase, with the dual perspective of outsider and returning insider. While raising some bigger questions, I hope to share some decent anecdotes and generally play a proper journalist for a little bit. Excited to have you all along for the ride.