Joe Barone: A Tribute to the Fiorentina General Manager

Joe Barone has died. The heart of the Fiorentina's general manager stopped beating in Milan. A few days ago, he had suffered a heart attack, just before the start of the league match between Atalanta and Viola. He would have turned 58 on March 20th. Joe Barone affected by illness, rushed to hospital: the match with Atalanta postponed. A few months after the club's purchase from the Della Valle family, Rocco Commisso announced his appointment as his right-hand man in the Viola company, thus strengthening a bond and collaboration that took off several years earlier. Born in Pozzallo, Sicily, on March 20, 1966, Barone moved with his family to the United States, to Brooklyn, at the age of 8. After completing his studies, he began a career in the banking and financial sector, which was interrupted after meeting the Italo-Calabrian magnate who included him in his telecommunications company Mediacom and later appointed him vice president of the New York Cosmos in 2017, immediately after acquiring the majority stake and saving them from bankruptcy. The Sicilian manager, married to Mrs. Camilla who gave him four children (Pietro who made him a grandfather a year ago, Salvatore, Giuseppe former football player of Ascoli, Perugia, and Salernitana, and Gabriella) was indeed Commisso's man in every aspect of the football world. The entrepreneur, after sending him to Florence on his behalf pending the conclusion of the negotiations with the Della Valle family, then entrusted him with the management and running of Fiorentina from the early days, demonstrating complete trust and esteem. It was Barone who represented the Viola club in the League councils, it was always he who personally took care of the market but also of the Viola Park projects and the stadium issue. In some cases, his decisions and statements have aroused criticism and controversy but Commisso has always stood by his side: "The more my managers are criticized, the closer Rocco will be to them, this is my method," the Viola patron has always replied.