Living inside Maradona's head

Window opens on a new Naples

At 10.37 pm on 4 May the man who lives in Diego Maradona’s head threw open the window of his flat in the Spanish Quarter district in Naples for the first time in months, erupting in a cathartic scream as the city celebrated another moment in its rebirth.

Ciro Maiello, a 50-year-old pork butcher, moved to the apartment block featuring a giant mural of the Argentinian in 2006 and lived there through a period he called the “dark days [when] dozens of people were killed in these streets.” The mural was painted a few years earlier, in honour of the player who gave the city’s football team the most successful period in its history, including its first Serie A title win, and whose veneration by Neapolitans is comparable only to that of its patron saint, Gennaro.

The shutters on his bathroom window correspond with the champion’s head and, out of respect, he kept them shut – until, that is, that night three weeks ago when Napoli won their first Serie A title in 33 years . Tearful, the man opened his window and looked out upon a thronged square as delirious, nightlong celebrations erupted across the city .