MILAN – A warm evening, lots of fans, Massimo and Milly Moratti, Mario Corso and Egidio Morbello (together they won the 1962/63 Scudetto), Bedy Moratti, the City of Milan's Councillor for Culture Filippo Del Corno (an Interista, he recalls that Grande Inter line-up with an emotional voice thanking everyone on behalf of the Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, also a Nerazzurri fan), Armando's sons Leo and Gianmarco Picchi, the thrill you always get at an exhibition launch - the culmination of the strenuous efforts put in to make it happen. Armando Picchi is still an iconic figure. Portrayed on the pitch and in his home life, in photos with his family, with sand and sea. The real life of a real champion. But the memorabilia adorning the display cabinets and walls also paints the picture of a real man.
We could embark on a debate about what constitutes a real man, or analyse an individual who – in the years when Angelo Moratti's Inter were stunning the world and winning everything – was capable of captaining an invincible army, and occasionally even standing up to Helenio Herrera. Armando Picchi is all here, in these black and white photos from the '60s. With his broad shoulders ("It looked like they lifted his shirt up", the honorary president observed) and toned muscles - his physique the perfect outwards reflection of his character.
Broad-shouldered he was indeed, for he feared nothing. A totem for Inter.
"He was our fulcrum, and he left us with an indelible memory," recalled Massimo Moratti, speaking in the plural and including his father Angelo and a family united by the black and blue stripes. "He was a magnet for the team. I can say so without any of his team-mates getting offended because Picchi was just that. He was the man they all looked to."
Serenella Calderara and Pierluigi Arcidiacono, curator and organiser of the exhibition, explain that he was generous man who accommodated the needs of fans in difficult situations. A man who when he went back to his mother's house always took his shoes off so as not to blemish the immaculately cleaned floors. A real man. One who raised trophies to the sky before he himself was summoned up to the heavens far too early.
Time is a malleable device that varies according to one's memory. But we all remember Armando Picchi: he gave a lot and that 'lot' is always given back in our recollections.
There weren't many journalists at this emotion-tinged inauguration, and those who were there were more interested in the present – that's their job, after all. Asked about the decisions being taken at club level by Erick Thohir, Massimo Moratti commented: "Inter is a club that can guarantee for itself, so this operation is a way of helping it to be strong and autonomous." One president well-wishing another.
The last image of this event is dedicated to Federico and Lorenzo Picchi, Armando's grandchildren who, in granddad's honour, put a photo of him on their mobile phones. A way of remembering him that was impossible in the '60s. But it is the memory itself that bonds us forever.
