Carlo Castellani (15 January 1909 – 11 August 1944) was an Italian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker for

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

and Viareggio Calcio. He was deported to

Gusen concentration camp Gusen was a subcamp of Mauthausen concentration camp operated by the SS () between the villages of Sankt Georgen an der Gusen and Langenstein, Austria, Langestein in the Reichsgau Ostmark (currently Perg District, Upper Austria). Primarily popul ...

in early 1944 in place of his anti-fascist father, and died there on 11 August 1944, aged 35.

Life and career

Castellani was born on 15 January 1909 in ,

Montelupo Fiorentino Montelupo Fiorentino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence. Geography The area is predominantly hilly and is crossed by the river Pesa that, part ...

. He started his footballing career at

, making his Terza Divisione debut on 7 November 1926, and helped the club to promotion to the

Seconda Divisione Seconda Divisione (''Second Division'') was the name of the second level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

that season. He stayed at the club until 1930, when he joined

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. He scored 3 in 25 games in the 1930–31 season as Livorno were relegated to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. He transferred to Viareggio Calcio in 1933 before returning to Empoli in 1934. In total, he scored 61 goals in 145 matches for Empoli across his two spells at the club, making him their highest scoring player until 2011, when he was overtaken by Francesco Tavano. He retired from football in 1940 and continued to live in his birth town of Fibbiana, where he owned a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. He continued to support Empoli financially after his retirement as a player. Castellani's father was a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and vocal critic of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

and

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and as a result, following strikes at a nearby glass factory, the occupying German forces looked to arrest his father. As his father was ill at the time, Castellani volunteered to go in his father's place in the belief that he would be sent to a nearby barracks where he could explain the situation. Castellani was instead taken to the railway station in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

from where he was deported to

Mauthausen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

. He was transferred to

, where he died of

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

on 11 August 1944. In 1965, Empoli named their newly-built stadium

Stadio Carlo Castellani The Stadio comunale Carlo Castellani is a multi-purpose stadium in Empoli, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and the home of Empoli FC. The stadium holds 16,284. Built in 1923, the Stadio Carlo Castellani is currently th ...

in memory of Castellani.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellani, Carlo 1909 births 1944 deaths Italian men's footballers People from Montelupo Fiorentino Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Florence Men's association football forwards Empoli FC players US Livorno 1915 players ASD Viareggio Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Italian people who died in Mauthausen concentration camp Deaths from dysentery 20th-century Italian sportsmen