Joe Barone, divisive and outspoken corporator. He had Fiorentina sewn on him

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He was a divisive character, Giuseppe Joe Barone. A company manager must be as divisive as he is, forced to make decisions that may not always make everyone happy. And Joe Barone, business executive, was through and through. Eyes and voice of Rocco Commisso, in Italy. Proudly Florentine from day one. Tough when needed, but never unfair.

Since the Italian-American tycoon bought Fiorentina from the Della Valle brothers (in June 2019), Joe Barone had effectively become Fiorentina. He had sewn the purple shirt on himself. On the front line at institutional meetings, at negotiations (which went badly) to build a new stadium, dealing with the Italian bureaucratic slowness that often becomes a burden for those who do business.

Barone had personally followed the works to build the jewel that is Viola Park. But you might also find him at dinner with the agents and in the boiling rooms of the transfer market, for the most difficult operations.

His arrival at Viola Park aboard a purple Piaggio Ape will remain famous.

Fiorentina fans will remember him with the phone in his hand, under the curve, following a victory, for a video call with president Commisso, to transmit the enthusiasm from Florence to New York.