It's a love story about football—about the Sunday ritual of gathering, the bonds between fans, the solidarity that erupts when thousands of voices rise as one. Mariano Iusi, 39, from Cosenza, knows this story by heart. He lives with spinal muscular atrophy and moves in a wheelchair. Yet nothing has ever stopped him from getting to the stadium on Sunday to watch his beloved Cosenza Calcio.
Until the rules changed. "National accessibility regulations for stadiums came in," Mariano explains, "and suddenly, wheelchair users like me were permitted to watch only from Section A—just one place, with no choice about where to sit or who to sit with. It was segregation."
That injustice sparked Lupi a Rotelle. Not a formal nonprofit, but something more alive: a group of fans—disabled and non-disabled alike—who borrowed the nickname of Cosenza's most devoted supporters and set out to change minds and break down barriers.
The campaign began with consciousness-raising. Then came something extraordinary. In November 2014, as Cosenza prepared to play Messina, three thousand ultras from the south curve moved into Section A in solidarity. They unfurled a banner: "If architectural barriers keep disabled fans out of the curve, then the curve moves to Section A."
Mariano still tears up when he tells this part. "There was another banner—we call them pezze—that said something like: 'South curve beyond barriers, there is always life.' But the real turning point came in February 2015, at the derby against Reggio Calabria. Twenty-three ultras groups released a statement drawing attention to what was happening."
What happened next mattered more than any official decree. Section A became alive. Not a ghetto anymore, but a gathering place where people sat together without hierarchy or division. "That's when real bonds formed," Iusi continues. "That's when we declared ourselves Lupi a Rotelle and committed to a concrete fight: to open up more sections of the stadium. We won access to Section B. We won access to the North curve. We negotiated with the club directly for our own entry."
The work goes on—work that exposes a problem across Italy, especially in older stadiums. The Cosenza group (red and blue, the club's colors) isn't stopping. "Our next target is the VIP section and the south curve. But this has to mean something for away fans too. I've traveled to matches all over the country, and Italian stadiums are nowhere near where they should be. Frosinone was the only away section I found that was actually accessible. In 2022, it's inexcusable that disabled fans get assigned one block of seats, period. We're not asking for discounts or special treatment. We want social access—to experience the stadium and football the way everyone else does. As a moment of joy, friendship, escape. That's why I, and my fellow Lupi—Roberto Giacomantonio, Silverio Miraglia, Dario Bufalo, Giuseppe Tomasi—will keep fighting," Mariano says. "We'll never stop."