There are clubs you follow for trophies, and clubs you follow because they feel real. US Pergolettese sits firmly in the second category.
Based in Crema, in the flat heart of Lombardy, Pergolettese are a proper provincial football side. No glamour, no illusions. Just football that means something to the people who turn up every week.
They play in Serie C, Italy’s third tier, a division where nothing comes easy and everything has to be earned. That suits Pergo just fine.
From Pergoletto to Pergo
Football in Crema officially started in 1932, when the club was founded in Pergoletto, a suburb of the town. Over the years, the name changed, Pergolettese became Pergocrema, but the identity stayed the same: local, stubborn, and proud of it.
There were highs. Winning Serie C2 in 2007–08 and finishing 11th the following season remains the best result in the club’s history. There were also lows. In 2012, financial problems caught up with Pergocrema and the club went bankrupt. Doors shut. Silence followed.
But football in places like this doesn’t just disappear.
A year later, the title of Pizzighettone moved to Crema, the name US Pergolettese 1932 returned, and the story carried on. Promotion followed, and by 2019, Pergo were back in the professional game, this time holding their own against clubs with far bigger names and budgets.
The Cannibals
Pergolettese are known as I Cannibali. It’s not a nickname dreamed up by a marketing team. It comes from how they play.
This is football built on physicality, pressure and refusal to back down. They don’t try to outplay you. They don’t pretend to be something they’re not. They get close, they make it uncomfortable, and they keep going until you crack.
Small ground. Tight pitch. Fans right on top of you. Away teams know they’ve been somewhere after a visit to Crema. Around here, football has always been more of a contest than a performance.
The Stands and the City
Pergolettese share the Stadio Giuseppe Voltini with city rivals AC Crema, which only adds fuel to the local derby. Rivalries with Mantova, Pro Patria, Lecco and others run deep, while friendships with Piacenza supporters and even Union Saint-Gilloise fans show how these connections stretch well beyond Lombardy.
Crema itself often surprises people. It’s best known internationally for Call Me By Your Name, filmed among its streets and piazzas, but there’s more here than cinema tourism. Agriculture, cheese, small industry and a strong sense of local identity define the town.
And then there’s the food. Tortelli cremaschi — sweet, stuffed pasta that confuses first-timers — alongside salva cheese, winter dishes like pipèto, and pastries that belong to this place alone. Matchday doesn’t end at the final whistle. It spills into cafés, bakeries and late conversations.
Today’s Pergolettese
The current squad is exactly what you’d expect from Pergo: experienced Serie C heads, younger players on loan from bigger clubs, and a core that knows what it means to play here. Captain Mariano Arini sets the tone, while the team continues to lean into that Cannibals’ reputation — organised, intense and difficult to beat.
They’re not chasing fairy tales. Survival, stability and pride come first.
Why Pergolettese matter
US Pergolettese won’t dominate headlines. They won’t trend online. But they represent something essential about Italian football: community clubs, rebuilt after failure, still standing because people care enough to keep them alive.
In Crema, football isn’t about status. It’s about turning up, backing your side, and knowing exactly who you are. Pergolettese know that better than most.
All our thanks to Luca Gaiera and U.S. Pergolettese 1932
