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TURIN, Italy (AP) – A scent of ice in his honor, a pizza bearing his name, queuing to buy his shirt: For some, Cristiano Ronaldo is as important as the pope.
Juventus made waves of shock around the world by completing Real Madrid's Ronaldo signing for a 112-million Serie A record, the five-time winner of the Golden Ball signing a four-year contract with the Italian. champion.
And Ronaldo mania is in full swing in Turin, with enterprising businessmen who do not miss the opportunity to celebrate the occasion and cash the arrival of the Portuguese striker.
Leonardo La Porta, who owns Gelateria Miretti in the heart of Turin for 30 years, has created a flavor called CR7 – the famous brand of Ronaldo.
La Porta, 50, is not a supporter of Juventus, nor even a football fan, but she often creates flavors to mark important events in the city.
However, he only created a flavor in the honor of a person before – when the Pope came to Turin in 2015.
La Porta put a lot of thought into the creation of the flavor CR7, that he wanted to represent a union between Portugal and Turin.
"I put it on sale on the 7/7 date because it was the day when it was said that Cristiano Ronaldo would be introduced," La Porta said at the time. Associated Press. "I thought about it a week before … the search was quite intense.
" We chose to use a typically Portuguese liquor that is Ginja, it's a cherry liqueur acid that strongly binds Portugal to the region of Piedmont because here too, in Piedmont, we have a similar cherry liquor. In Portugal, this liqueur is served in a cup of chocolate, so this ice cream is made of milk, cream, sugar and carob flour, with this Ginja liqueur and pieces of chocolate. "
The taste is rich and tasty, with hints of spice and fruit
"I hope (Ronaldo) can come here to try it," La Porta said, adding that the flavor is selling regularly. "Otherwise, I'm ready to go home to do it for him, we'll see."
Nearby is a pizzeria, which also hopes to attract the football superstar.
Tommy Tegamino, who belongs to two Juventus season ticket holders, the Filippo brothers (31) and Tommaso Crozaso (26), now owns the "Pizza CR7".
The deep pizza is garnished with stracchino cheese and black olives in the form of number "7" and also symbolizes the black and white colors of Juventus.
It costs seven euros ($ 8.17).
"We all hope that it will come!" rejoices Sara Giulia Peira, the director of the oldest of the three branches of Tommy Tegamino, 35 years old. "Maybe he finds out he's coming here to try it, it'll be great."
"We decided to do things right when we heard the official news that he was coming here. In fact, it is only Wednesday that we started to sell it. Our owners have decided with our pizza chef to celebrate the Portuguese star … It's going well, especially with the fans of course. "
Some of the incredulous fans are still rubbing their eyes in disbelief as Ronaldo joins Juventus.
Raimondo Livolsi, a 37-year-old Turkish laborer, said that he thought that" c & # "Was a hoax" when news of Ronaldo's possible arrival emerged, while Eric Tolve joked about the fact that he needed a malox truck to calm himself down Tolve, a 59-year-old worker from Foggia, who was in Turin with his wife visiting their daughter, bought a "Ronaldo" shirt for his nephew.
"There is no chance for anyone now, not in Italy or in Europe," he added. "The Champions League is ours, 100%."
Juventus has won the league for seven years, and the Italian Cup the last four, but has not lifted the Champions League since 1996 – even though it finished second in two of the four last editions.
The shirts bearing the name of Ronaldo stole shelves and not only in Turin. The official Juventus shop in Milan has sold about one shirt per minute.
The shops are also short of letters to print the name of Ronaldo, while the shop closest to the stadium would have left the shirt Wednesday night as the city prepares to welcome the man, during his presentation Monday.
Ronaldo should also find it easy to settle in Turin. Although it has less than a third of the population of Madrid, Turin is still the fourth largest city in Italy, close to the mountains and the sea.
"I think he'll like it here," said Simone Mbaducco, a 17-year-old Turin student who was buying her first Juventus shirt – bearing the name Ronaldo. "It's not a city where fans are boring you too much, I think it's going to be fine."
Turin is an industrial city and home of Fiat, which – like Juventus – is also controlled by the Agnelli family.
While most supporters welcome the arrival of Ronaldo, even with supporters of opposing teams recognizing the prestige he brings to the Italian game, there is a minority that is dissatisfied with the price of the transaction.
A small group of former Fiat Chrysler factory workers and union activists hung banners on a wall outside of a car factory in Naples, while strikes were scheduled Friday in Pomigliano and Monday and Tuesday in another Fiat factory. Melfi.
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