Few clubs in Europe are named after a figure from Greek mythology. Atalanta of Bergamo is one of them, and on 17 October 2026 it turns 119. Behind its black-and-blue shirt lies a story of schoolboys, a myth and a merger that changed everything.

Five students and an idea

It all began on 17 October 1907, inside a classical high school in Bergamo, the Liceo Paolo Sarpi. Five students, Eugenio Urio, the brothers Giulio and Ferruccio Amati, Alessandro Forlini and Giovanni Roberti, decided to start a club of their own. At first it was a multi-sport club, with football just one of several sports.

At the same time the city also had FC Bergamo, founded by Swiss immigrants in 1904. It was a different club, though: it folded in 1911 and its members moved to Bergamasca.

A name taken from Greek myth

One day after the founding, the young men voted unanimously for the name "Atalanta". As students of the classics, they knew Atalanta well: the heroine who grew up on Mount Pelion, suckled by a bear according to the myth, and became a huntress and a runner without equal.

The best-known myth says she would only marry a man who could beat her in a race. Hippomenes managed it with a trick, throwing down three golden apples that she stopped to pick up. Those golden apples also explain the gold details we often see on the shirt and the crest.

From black and white to black and blue

Few people know that Atalanta's first shirt was black and white. Bergamasca, the big local rival, wore white and blue.

When the two clubs merged in 1920 under the name Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, they took the black from one and the blue from the other. That is how the vertical black-and-blue stripes and the nickname "Nerazzurri" were born. The first joint shirt, however, had no stripes: it was quartered.

The face on the crest

In 1963 a crest appeared with a golden figure of Atalanta running between black and blue stripes. In 1984 the full-length figure gave way to her face alone, which was redrawn in 1993, and that is the crest the club still wears today.

The design is made to suggest speed. Her hair seems to blow in the wind and her head tilts slightly back, like a runner at full stride.

Why they call her "the Goddess"

Fans call the club "La Dea", the Goddess. Strictly speaking, in the myth Atalanta was not a goddess but a mortal princess. The nickname stuck anyway, and today it is heard in the stands as often as "Nerazzurri".

The players and the night in Dublin

Legends such as Gaetano Scirea and Antonio Cabrini came through its academy. Christian Vieri wore the black-and-blue shirt, as did Filippo Inzaghi, who was Serie A top scorer in 1996-97, while Cristiano Doni is the top scorer in the club's history.

The greatest moment came on 22 May 2024 in Dublin. Gian Piero Gasperini's side beat Leverkusen 3-0 in the Europa League final, with a hat-trick from Ademola Lookman. That ended the Germans' 51-match unbeaten run, and Atalanta lifted its first European trophy, its second major honour after the 1963 Coppa Italia.

A shirt for collectors

Atalanta's shirt is one of the most recognisable in Italy: black, blue and a touch of gold from the myth. For a Greek fan it has something even more special, because it carries a piece of our own mythology.

The kits from the Europa League season are already in high demand, but every Nerazzurri shirt tells its own story.

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: the Curva Nord of the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo (2020) – Vincenzo.togni, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.