“Il Capitano” is the cry as Francesco Totti emerges from the tunnel. Not just among those in Roma’s carmine red and gold but from fans sporting club colours the length and breadth of Italy.

It marks the latest step on the Operazione Nostalgia journey.

What began eight years ago as a Facebook page charting the glory years of Italian football has gathered an almost cult-like following, leading last weekend to a match between Serie A legends of the 1990s and 2000s.

The teams were captained by two immortals of that era – World Cup winners Totti and Del Piero.

“For us, it is a special event,” Damiano Tommasi, a Scudetto-winning team-mate of Totti’s at Roma and now the mayor of Verona, tells BBC Sport.

“We come back to our past and meet a lot of old friends – it is special to see all these people with different shirts sit in the stands.”

Operazione Nostalgia was the brainchild of Andrea Bini, who with friend and co-founder Luca Valentino began reminiscing on social media about Serie A stars they watched in their youth.

With Italian football at a low ebb, it struck a chord among those craving calcio’s halcyon days. Within six months they had more than 50,000 followers.

That prompted the pair to organise a meet-up near the Duomo in Milan – they arranged for four former footballers to attend with the only condition being fans must dress in their own favourite retro shirt.

“Actually, it was a triumph,” explains Valentino. “Five hundred people came, the square was blocked.”

From there, things snowballed and the founders, who worked in digital and social media, turned their passion into a full-time job. The following year, at Ostia near Rome, 2,000 people and 40 ex-footballers turned up, including former Brazil and Roma defender Aldair.

In 2018, Parma asked to face an Operazione Nostalgia Stars team – pitting cult heroes such as Dario Hubner and Javier Chevanton against star-studded opponents including Hernan Crespo and Juan Sebastian Veron.

Part of the magic lies in what Valentino calls “province idols” like Hubner, someone who made his Serie A debut as a 30-year-old for Brescia against Inter in 1997, at the same time as Ronaldo. Hubner scored at the San Siro that afternoon, the world’s most expensive striker didn’t.

“It’s true that nowadays the attention is more on other aspects, sometimes not so positive,” explains Valentino. “I think this is what fans and players appreciate of our projects – we bring back to reality these positives values, memories and emotions.”

Bini and Valentino thought things had peaked at Parma’s iconic Tardini stadium, but the following summer Operazione Nostalgia’s finest turned out against a La Liga Legends XI.

The Italians included Del Piero, and the Juventus icon expressed how he was charmed by rival fans chanting his name.

When Covid hit, it meant the growing community was confined online once more, but after a four-year absence Operazione Nostalgia was able to make an emotional return in Ferrara.

On Saturday morning, the city lit up with the team colours of thousands of supporters arriving early to attend the fan village.

Those in vintage Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Parma, Fiorentina and Sampdoria jerseys enjoyed three-a-side games with others representing Empoli, Brescia, Udinese and beyond. Some played table football and video consoles, others flicked through retro shirt stalls and met their heroes.

The names on their backs evoked memories among fans – Baggio, Cannavaro, Weah, a young lad in a 1994 Alexi Lalas Padova top – but also from players, who have bought into the project.

“You play for example for Inter Milan, so AC Milan, Juventus fans, they hate you footballistically,” explains Sebastien Frey, the former Inter, Parma and Fiorentina goalkeeper.

“But I signed a lot of autographs and made lots of pictures with Juventus, Milan and Roma fans.

“For us it is very important because they respect us, not just because we played for one team or another, but because we played well and we respected Serie A in Italy in those years.”

Luca Aielli, a Lanciano supporter, adds: “This initiative is deeply felt by football fans because it gives us the opportunity to meet some of the most important football legends who have accompanied us from childhood.

“The thing that struck me the most was seeing so many fans of so many different teams get together and have fun without rivalry.”

The Stadio Paolo Mazza, home to third-tier SPAL, was chosen for its “English” characteristics – close to the pitch, no athletics track – and as it fills to near capacity, the stands become a vibrant blur of colours. When Totti and Del Piero emerge, that canvas erupts.

“It is good to see a lot of friends after a long time and it is great for the audience too, because they come from all around Italy and we build a huge party,” says former Inter midfielder Georgios Karagounis, a Euro 2004 winner with Greece.

“It is a great community. It doesn’t matter the colours, and maybe it would be great if this message would go across all the football universe.”

The match itself is well contested. “I don’t want to fight with nobody, but if I play I want to try win the game,” laughs Frey.

Antonio di Natale, at the age of 45, performs an impressively acrobatic bicycle kick, Totti is effortlessly majestic, while Inter treble-winner Diego Milito kickstarts a flurry of goals.

Del Piero rolls in a penalty and it is his side who come out 4-3 winners, David Pizarro and Chevanton grabbing two each, ex-Juventus defender Paolo de Ceglie adding the other.

“It is very funny,” adds Frey. “When you play against some players you have one idea about their personality and now you discover some that maybe you didn’t like before.

“Now we are all friends and we don’t represent the present of football. We are just playing to enjoy the moment. We are all happy to remember – some guys scored against me, I saved against them. It is a very good atmosphere.”

At full-time, goalkeeper Marco Amelia holds aloft a jersey bearing Gianluca Vialli’s name, the former Italy striker having passed in January, and as the players perform a lap of honour, taking pictures and signing shirts, they are stirred by the interactions with fans.

For founder Bini, whose Facebook page has grown in those eight years to more than one million followers, it is “really a dream” to witness in person legends he once wrote about online.

“It’s an incredible experience for all the thousands of people at the stadium and for the players on the field,” says Bini.

“To see the touched eyes of Del Piero and Totti gives us chills. They are players that have passed through the stages of all the world, and to make them emotional is not a common thing.”