When: June 16, 17, 24
Where: Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
Price: €21-€47

If modern football has become too sanitised for your taste, head to Florence for Calcio Storico, an entertaining 15th-century-style tournament in Florence’s Piazza Santa Croce.

The theatrics of Serie A are a million miles away from this historic, testosterone-fuelled tournament of fighting-cum-football.

The game is said to originate from an ancient Roman ball sport, which became the sport of princes and noblemen in the golden age of the Tuscan capital.

Today it is fiercely fought between the four Florentine quarters: San Giovanni, Santa Maria Novella, Santo Spirito and Santa Croce.

Clad in medieval garters and pantaloons, the teams of 27 youths apiece seem more preoccupied with attacking each other than scoring points, though the rules are fairly complex.

The aim is to seize the ball and put it in the net (which runs the entire width of the pitch) by whatever means available. Misses and interceptions provide points for the other team.

Following the semi-finals on June 16 and 17, the final match will take place on June 24, the feast day of St John, the patron saint of Florence.

Unlike the overpaid prima donne of modern football, the winners of Calcio Storico are rewarded with a mass of steaks equivalent in weight to the more traditional prize of a white calf or bistecca fiorentina, which was histo-rically butchered for the occasion. Definitely a tournament to get your teeth into.

Visit www.calciostoricofiorentino.it for the latest updates. Tickets are available from www.boxol.it.

Fly to Pisa (69 km from Florence) or Bologna (85km from Florence) with Ryanair.