One ticket to rule them all ...

Sometimes, less is more. Last year, I had two cards that I needed to bring to the stadium: one was the controversial "tessera del tifoso" (a football fan ID card) and my season ticket. I'm not getting into the perceived and real pros and cons of the tessera here, but having two cards was a little annoying.

Fast forward to this season, and things have changed. The ticketing system was to be simplified and season-ticket holders would no longer be required to carry the tessera or any other separate ID, because the ticket itself would have a nice little photo of the fan on it. Makes sense.

So, imagine my surprise then when I was told by the (really nice) guy in the shop that I'd need not one, not two, but three tickets to get to my seat this season. OK ... surprise is not the right word. Anyone who lives here could not be surprised by an Italian system getting more complicated. But still, three bloody tickets.

My pass and my tessera have not been combined. I haven't even been given a fresh ticket. They reactivated the 2010-2011 one instead. To counter any confusion there might be at the gate, they gave me a piece of paper that says the other piece of paper is valid for 2011-2012, too.

Still with me? This is because I changed my seat. Not because I wanted to be difficult or anything, just because last year's pew had about 50% visibility. Obviously, being Italy, no one actually sits in their own seat, so I just chose another one with a clear view and sat there for the year. But for the coming season, I wanted to have my house in order, and so I asked to change the seat for one a few places over. Which was a problem in itself, but I won't bore you all with that yarn.

Anyway, I now have to take three tickets to each game. A plastic one that says I'm allowed to have a laminated paper one which is out of date and an un-laminated paper one that says the out of date laminated one is not, in fact, out of date.

Come to Italy, everyone. You don't know what you're missing ...