Italy has been creating and revering beauty for centuries, whether through most grandiose art and architecture, or expressing it with something as simple as a perfectly tailored suit. As such, la bella figura—literally “the beautiful figure”—has become an essential philosophy, one so deeply embedded in the psyche of the nation that it rules the lives of people on the peninsula far more intently than any law passed by the government.
The phrase has many meanings, but at its core is presentation; how one looks, how one comports oneself, how one makes the best possible impression in all things. It goes beyond image and outward appearance, but if anyone in football embodied the phrase to the world at large it should be Marcello Lippi.
