, American football bowl game played in
Florence, Italy, on 1 January 1945 In
Italy, the first American football game took place in
Genoa on 27 November 1913 when the teams of the
USS Connecticut and
USS Kansas faced each other, two of the 14 ships of the American
Great White Fleet temporarily docked in the
Ligurian port during an exercise cruise in the
Mediterranean Sea. USS Connecticut won 17–6. After this sporadic appearance, American football returned to Italy with the
Allied troops during
World War II. American football followed the advance of the US units from the south to the north of the
Italian peninsula. On 23 November 1944, a
touch football match was played at the
Stadio della Vittoria in
Bari, between the Playboys and the Technical School. The trophy, called the "Bambino Bowl", was won by the Technical School 13–0 in front of an audience of 5,000. A little over a month later, the
Spaghetti Bowl was held in
Florence in front of 25,000 people on
New Year's Day 1945 between the Bridgebusters (representatives of the
Twelfth Air Force) and the Mudders (
United States Army North); the Mudders won 20–0. Although probably other matches were played in those years of which no documentation remains, the first in peacetime, took place in
Trieste, the last territory liberated from the Nazi-Fascists, in January 1948. The match was organized by the
Trieste United States Troops and saw the SP'S prevail over D Company by "three
touchdowns" (then 21–0). ==History==