WHEN THE ENTHUSIASM for Napoli compels thousands of fans to travel all the way up to northern Italy, where their accent and dialect seems as foreign as anything else you'd find in the valleys of Trentino, something special is happening.

They came and waited in lines just for a chance to catch a glimpse of the Serie A champions. Some arrived late, knowing they had made the trip without any guarantee that they'd get to see their heroes in training. "I just arrived. I haven't seen anything," one fan told Calcio Napoli 24 in a typical Neapolitan accent that betrayed the green hills and snow-capped mountains lurking in the background. Some fans lay sprawled on the asphalt as the lineup snaked through the valley.

But they had good reason to make the pilgrimage north.