Once upon a time in Chievo…

The drinkers in the Bar Pantalona still can't quite believe it all.

As they sip on glasses of wine, a television crew hop around in the backroom setting up cameras. The middle-aged customers who for years have enjoyed each others' company and the simple food offered in the bar prepare themselves for yet another round of media interviews.

The Pantalona has always been the home base for supporters of Chievo football club, the team representing a tiny suburb of Verona.

There was much excitement last year when after just 16 years Chievo left behind the regional amateur league and entered the ranks of Italy's elite Serie A but there was still a feeling that the team were the property of the local fans and something of a secret.

But now the Pantalona has become the most famous sports bar in Italy as Chievo head Serie A after nine games, looking down on historically-great clubs such as Inter Milan and Juventus.

Suddenly, little Chievo have become everyone else's second-favourite club.

Chievo entered the professional ranks of Serie C2 in 1986 and three years later won promotion to C1.

After five years Alberto Malesani, later coach of Fiorentina and Parma, took them into Serie B and last season they became the first club to "climb the ladder" as they won promotion to the top flight.

CINDERELLA

The story of Chievo's remarkable rise, backed by the money of a local confectionery firm, has captured the hearts of the Italian public who have always enjoyed a romantic tale.

Newspapers talk of the 'miracle of Chievo', of a footballing fairytale and of the 'Cinderella club'.

At the Pantalona, the barmaid worries that all the media attention will affect "the boys" but across the fields at the Veronella training centre there is little sign of success going to the players' heads.

Coach Luigi Del Neri, a man who has served his time in the lower divisions, would give short shrift to anyone getting too big for their boots.

Before every game he reminds the players that their opponents are better than them.

But after wins over clubs of pedigree such as Fiorentina and Parma, surely his message is wearing a little thin with the players?

"We are the new arrivals in Serie A and we are playing against clubs and players who have years of experience at this level. In that sense they really are better than us," Del Neri told Reuters in an interview.

"What I remind the players is that they need to compensate with extra effort, determination and concentration. For Chievo every game is difficult and so the motivation is always there."

TRADITIONAL VIRTUES

Del Neri's emphasis on traditional virtues such as hard work, running, solid defending, width and good passing have made something of a mockery of the endless debates about formations and tactics at the bigger clubs.

For those who look beyond the obvious enchantment of the club's rise against the odds, the club's philosophy is what is most attractive.

Chievo, a team built around players rejected by the big clubs, run on a minimal budget, with no hint of pretence and not a whiff of scandal, are refreshing in a sport plagued by doping, racism, violence and the impression that money has corrupted the soul of the game.

But Chievo president Luca Campedelli, whose late father Luigi left him both the family business and the football club, is not at ease with the idea that Chievo have come to represent lost values.

"Chievo are not an antidote for Italian football. We are just a football club that plays the game with happiness and is built on the abilities of the players and coaches and the staff -- we are only a football team, nothing more," Campedelli told Reuters.

At just 34 years of age, Campedelli is the youngest president in Serie A but he is already weary of talk of his club being a fairy story.

"This is not a fairytale. Chievo are where they are now because of hard work and ability. We didn't get to Serie A as a result of some sort of miracle -- we got here for good reasons and on merit.

"I'd call it a nice story rather than a fairytale."