Italy stepped up its bid to import the English model of defeating hooliganism here Tuesday with the start of the nation's first course for soccer-steward coordinators.
Club stewards are credited with playing a major role in helping British football clean up its act over the last 20 years.
Their job is to help fans find their seats and make sure they do not do anything they shouldn't during the game, like racially abuse players or hurl objects onto the pitch.
This makes it possible to reduce the police presence at the grounds, which in turn helps reduce potential tension between fans and security forces.
British police are only called on to handle major incidents inside stadiums.
Although stewards do exist here, there are fewer of them and their role is generally more limited than in England.
Indeed, Italy's hard-core ultra fans can often do as they please in the sections of the grounds they take up. Smoking cannabis, for example, is common at Serie A games.
This is possible because Italian police only enter these areas as a last resort. They know the ultras would consider it an invasion of their territory and react violently.
The death of a police officer in rioting at a Serie A game in Catania last month, however, has convinced the authorities that the ultras must be brought to heel.
It is hoped the stewards can help to restore order to these parts of the stadium that have become no-go areas for the police.
The Genoa course for steward supervisors is being run by the city's two clubs, Serie A Sampdoria and second-division Genoa, with the local police.
It is only the first of a series of initiatives to train all 600 of the two clubs' stewards in how to handle soccer fans and prevent trouble.
The tragic death of police officer Filippo Raciti prompted the government to prepare a package of anti-hooliganism measures and fully implement previous anti-violence legislation passed in 2005.
The 2005 law bolsters the role of club stewards by putting offences committed against them on a par with those against the police.
The law - which was largely ignored until the Catania incident - also rules that stadiums must be equipped with video surveillance inside and outside the grounds and external lighting systems to help spot troublemakers.
Among other things, it makes it obligatory for tickets to feature the buyer's name and the seat in the ground where they must sit too - again to make it easier to identify hooligans.
Both of these measures are successful parts of the English approach to combating trouble.
The new government package, meanwhile, features stiffer punishment for people convicted of hooliganism-related offences. Experts say such sharp penalties have discouraged fans of English clubs from causing trouble.
"The effectiveness of the English model is indisputable and to some degree we have used this experience," admitted Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, after meeting British Home Secretary John Reid last month to discuss the issue.
