Rocco Commisso, patron and soul of Fiorentina since 2019, has died. A man with a strong character who has often divided the Florentines and Italian football
Visionary, stubborn and in love. Rocco Commisso was all this and much more for Fiorentina and for Italian footballadventures into which he embarked in 2019 after a long courtship which involved not only Viola but also Milan. He wanted to return home, Commisso, to his Italian and Calabrian origins. Florence was his third homeland after Gioiosa Ionica, his birthplace, and New York, the land of professional success, founder of the Mediacom giant, personal wealth estimated at 8 billion dollars.
Rocco Commisso died after a long illness on the night between 16 and 17 January 2026. For some time he had no longer been able to support his Fiorentina team due to his health conditions. A circumstance that distressed him, as testified in the last interview given to La Nazione a month before his disappearance.
The Fiorentina he had chosen to marry, putting in the effort, resources and vision of an American businessman. Not only the a lot of money spent on strengthening campaigns, but also the battles lost and won to make a club irremediably destined for the middle class great in the current football panorama. The Franchi stadium alone, truly modern and functional, Italian bureaucracy and politics did not make him do it at the cost of spending public money and opening construction sites without the certainty of closing them within certain and reasonable times.
The Viola ParkInstead, Rocco Commisso built it: 20 cutting-edge hectares, a legacy for Fiorentina today and tomorrow for anyone who wants to continue his work. He didn’t win any trophies, although he came close. He was twice rejected by bad luck in Europe, narrowly escaped two Conference League finals, and in Rome he slammed all-conquering Inter in the Italian Cup. He would have tried again, once the Viola had been secured in this centenary season which began badly and continued worse.
After all, efforts have never been lacking. And also the courage to defend the chosen men, with a very American style of sharing objectives, responsibilities and work. The disappearance of Joe Barone, much more than a right-hand man, was a very hard blow for him and for Fiorentina: yet Commisso had raised. For months he had to stay away from Florence where everyone knew and yet everyone continued to wait to see him again in the city and at Viola Park.
He has always loved the enormous passion that surrounds it about Italian football and has always hated the political mechanisms. He has never managed to enter the rooms that matter, despite having knocked forcefully and sometimes excessively: he has accused others of cheating, argued with many and made up with a few. But he always did it with his face and for the good of Fiorentina. “Fast, fast, fast” he said, talking about his plans: his passing came too quickly.
