A Fossa Dei Leoni History...
The origins of the Fossa Dei Leoni 1899 blog can be traced back to the writing of Gianfranco at The AC Milan Offside in 2007, just a little more than 3 months before the Champions League victory over Liverpool. Despite it being more of a Reddit-form where people could post things before then, it wasn’t until Gianfranco’s arrival that it became a true blog and the home for all Milan fans in search for English language content.
It was during this stretch of Gianfranco’s stewardship of the Offside that the old guard of the FDL came into being – Gianfranco along with AviA, TR, and Lisi – all of them finding each other and planting the seedlings of the oldest English language AC Milan blog on the planet. So, when a mutually agreed upon parting between Gianfranco and the powers that be at the Offside came at the end of 2014, all of these merry men followed Gianfranco to the newly independent Fossa Dei Leoni USA blog.
For the next 2+ years, right smack in the middle of the 2010s banter years, Fossa Dei Leoni USA was the voice of English speaking Milanisti everywhere. When Gianfranco decided to hang up his blogging cap, the boys decided to build a new site paying homage to its founding and surely trying to will banter era-stricken Milan into better days, and with that the Fossa Dei Leoni XV was born.
Since 2017, the FDLXV has been the go-to place for English-speaking Milan fans from all over the world to come together and talk how Milan could lift themselves out of the banter years, whether Pioli really was the guy for the job, did bringing back Zlatan make sense, and what to make of the great Paulo Maldini taking the reins of player acquisition and investment and the overall youth movement. Well, the hoisting of the 2021-2022 Scudetto answered all of these questions and more importantly for this story, the story of the Fossa Dei Leoni blog, it motivated us to complete our new site so we may all continue our Rossoneri journey.
Like Milan reclaiming their place in Italy and in Europe, we share in their rebirth…this is Fossa Dei Leoni 1899.
For historical content, click here: Fossa Dei Leoni XV
Contributors
gillis15 – Formerly known as the new guy, gillis15 is now the guy and in charge of the Fossa Dei Leoni. He built the current site and isn’t too bad in the graphics and photoshop department either. He’s been writing a bunch to prove his worth to longtime readers and followers while breathing in the thin Rocky Mountain air.
Fossa Dei Leoni Hall of Fame
Michael Lisi – One of the original founders of the site, Michael is affectionately known as, “Nonno”, for his wise and usually accurate commentary. Having retired from blogging in March 2025, you can still find him here commenting in the comment section from time to time or on Twitter. When he’s not doing that you can find him refereeing the beautiful game in the midwestern United States.
Teen Rocket AKA “TR” – One of the founding members of the Fossa Dei Leoni, TR has lovingly written for the Fossa since January 2011 along with founder Gianfranco. TR likes to speak his mind and like his man-crush Michael Essien, was our enforcer in the comment section. He still pops in the comment section occasionally but otherwise TR is wearing his cape and saving people in the northeastern United States.
AviA – Av predates everyone here and is one of the OGs of the old Offsides site. You can usually find him working to perfect his trade of…passionately following Milan legends, touching them (with consent, of course!), and getting Richardo Montolivo to sign coffee cups. He is also the author of our most beloved series of posts, the WAGS post…something that might pop up occasionally even in our uber PC world. AviA can be found working on his tan in the sunny UK.
Gianfranco Barbato – The original founder of the Fossa Dei Leoni, began blogging on the old Offsides site. He shows up here in the comment section once every decade or so to let us know he’s still alive. As our founder he is thought of like the patron saint, so thou shall not use his name in vain!
