Homecoming: De Rossi’s Radici
TORONTO – The modern football landscape is defined by hyper-commercialization, global branding, and transactional loyalty. Yet, a new seven-episode docuseries titled Radici (Roots) offers a stark, refreshing antithesis to this globalized industry. Produced by DDR Media and Damocle, the series chronicles AS Roma legend Daniele De Rossi’s deeply personal takeover of Ostiamare, a semi-professional club in the coastal Rome suburb of Ostia.
Rather than a standard sports documentary focusing strictly on tactics and corporate metrics, Radici explores the profound connection between this football icon and his place of origin. To truly understand the emotional weight of Radici, one must examine the unique pathology of the Roman footballer.
In a sport where elite players routinely migrate to the highest bidder, a few Roman icons operated on a completely different psychological frequency. They romanticized their roots with a fierce, lifelong devotion that was/is rarely mirrored elsewhere in Europe.
Consider Giuseppe Giannini, Francesco Totti, and Daniele De Rossi. At their peaks, all three were generational, elite talents who could have played for any super-club in Europe. Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich openly courted them with promises of astronomical wealth and guaranteed Champions League trophies.
Yet, they repeatedly chose to stay at Roma. To them, winning a single league title in the high-pressure, chaotic environment of their hometown outweighed a dozen bloodless trophies won in a foreign country. Their footballing identity was entirely inseparable from the cobblestones of the Eternal City.
Radici captures the ultimate extension of this romantic mindset. Following his high-profile and emotionally bruising sacking as AS Roma’s manager in late 2024, De Rossi did not seek a lucrative, low-stakes job abroad. Instead, he looked backward to find his footing. By purchasing Ostiamare – the fourth-tier side where he played as a youth between 1997 and 2000 – De Rossi initiated a deeply personal rescue mission.
The docuseries frames this takeover not as a wealthy superstar’s vanity project, but as a family-driven mission to honor grassroots football. De Rossi installed his father, Alberto De Rossi, a legendary figure in Roma’s youth academy, as the club president to oversee daily operations. Together, they set out to rebuild a struggling, semi-professional club into a transparent, modern community fixture.
The real-life climax of the docuseries plays out like a Hollywood script. Under the De Rossi family’s stewardship, Ostiamare went on to win Serie D Group F, securing an emotional promotion to Serie C. This historic achievement marked the club’s very first rise to professional football in its 80-year history, ending a painful 35-year absence from the professional ranks.
Ultimately, Radici proves that for a specific breed of elite athlete, the ultimate triumph is not found by conquering new territories across Europe.
Instead, true fulfillment comes from returning to the exact patch of grass where their journey began, and elevating the community that raised them.
Images courtesy of DDR Media and Sky Italia
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
