He lived long in the memory as he had a lot of stories. It was told that during a match for the national team at the 1924 Olympics, one of his powerful shots caught the opposition goalkeeper straight in the face and it sliced off part of his tongue. He died at the age of 64 in 1968. Even in the final hours of his life he was thinking of football. Levratto was in his bed but convinced that he was still on the pitch. Amidst this illusion, he spurred his teammates on: “Go, go forwards.”
Oh oh oh oh what a striker! Oh oh oh oh you’re a fawn! You’re better than Levratto, every shot goes in the net, oh oh oh what a striker!
The figure of Levratto was able to go beyond sports reports and enter popular culture thanks to a very famous song of the time. “Oh oh oh oh what a striker! Oh oh oh oh you’re a fawn! You’re better than Levratto, every shot goes in the net, oh oh oh what a striker!” went the chorus. It was sing by Quartetto Cetra who were very famous in the post-war period. They were the years of reconstruction, those of the first broadcasts on Rai and the first Sanremo festivals. Levratto had been retired for years and he’d become a coach but his devastating shot and exploits on the pitch were not forgotten.
If you say Meazza, there’s not a fan who doesn’t remember him. Even if that’s just because the stadium is named after him. If you say Levratto, only the oldest and most knowledgeable Inter fans will be able to link a name to a face. In reality, Felice Virgilio Levratto was one of the greatest Italian forwards in the 1920s and 1930s. He was a powerful centre-forward like Gigi Riva or Bobo Vieri. Together with Giuseppe Meazza, he formed a strike partnership for two years in the 1932-33 and 1933-34 seasons at the club known as Ambrosiana Inter during the fascist era. The result was 71 goals between them.
