‘I’m not racist. My tattoos show my errors’ Paolo di Canio says his infamous ‘Roman greeting’ is the worst decision of his life
Ex Sunderland gaffer was fired by Sky Italia after a tattoo was in favour of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini
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PAOLO DI CANIO has hit back at claims he is a racist and revealed his fascist tattoos shows the mistakes he has made in his life.
But the ex-Sunderland boss did reveal his admiration for leader of Benito Mussolini - leader of the National Fascist Party before claiming his infamous Roman greeting was the worst decision of his life.
Di Canio was sacked as Sky Italia pundit in September last year after his bicep tattoo, a tribute to Mussolini, was visible on live television.
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But the former striker wants to put the record straight by claiming he "does not have a thing of racism" inside of him.
Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he said: "Look at Trevor Sinclair, the genius of Shaka Hislop who ended his career as a goalkeeper to become a nuclear engineer. Chris Powell. Teammates, friends, lads of colour.
“Phil Spencer, my English agent, is a practising Jew; I was at his son’s Bar Mitzvah. I don’t have racism inside me, it doesn’t belong to me.
"What I carry on me are symbols of what I’ve been, of what I’ve done. Including mistakes.”
One memory that Di Canio won't be able to shrug off was the Curva Salute he did during a match whilst playing for Lazio in 2006.
It was a moment that the 48-year-old described as the biggest mistake of his career.
He added: "The salute under the Curva Nord is the thing I regret most in my career. It's sport, it's stupid to make a political gesture which could be shared by some and offensive to many others.
"I should have never done that, sport should stay out of certain things.
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“Why did I do it more than once [at Torino and Livorno]? To provoke, out of anger. They threw stones
from the stands, they sang songs with terrifying insults against my parents.
“I said I was sorry, not that I’m a saint.
“Am I still a fascist? I’d rather avoid labels. I’ve always explained my thinking, it’s not a mystery. But if
you ask me about racial laws, anti-Semitism and supporting Hitler, these things make me shudder.
“I could have said that [that I was a fascist] in the past, but always with these distinctions. And now I
realise that for some people who have suffered certain things, that can never be enough.
“I believed in a social right, but I was never a card-carrier.
“Mussolini? There’s a before and after. He did some good things, but when he followed Hitler with the racial laws that all ends.
“I got the tattoo in 2000, in Bologna. I was playing in England and I was recovering from an injury.
“For me Mussolini represented the idea of a society with rules which everyone respects. Love and
patriotic pride. Things I wanted for my country and which I can’t see even now."