The Vatican Tour - Rome 2026
In April 2026, the Hampshire Hogs completed their first continental tour in a generation — four days in Rome, two fixtures against outstanding opposition, and an unforgettable introduction to the Eternal City. They also, almost accidentally, became the most talked-about visitors in Rome that week.
The Blazers Conquer Rome
Rome has welcomed conquerors, emperors, pilgrims and popes. In April 2026 it welcomed the Hampshire Hogs — and the city, to put it plainly, was not prepared for the blazers.
Wherever the touring party went — the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Capitoline Hill, the Piazza Navona — the distinctive purple, red and black stripes of the Hogs blazer stopped people in their tracks. Tourists, Romans, visitors from every corner of the world paused, pointed, and came over to ask: who are you? What are you doing here? What is this extraordinary garment?
The answers — that this was a Hampshire cricket club founded in 1887, that they had come to play two matches, and that yes, the blazer has always looked like this — seemed only to deepen the fascination. Photographs were taken. Conversations were struck up in half a dozen languages. At the Pantheon, the Hogs drew a crowd to rival the building itself. It was, without question, the finest advertisement for wandering cricket — and for Hampshire — that the club has ever produced.
On the Capitoline Hill — Marcus Aurelius, Michelangelo’s piazza, and the Hogs
At the Roman Forum — ruins rather older than the club, though not by much
An evening at the Piazza Navona — the blazers were, again, the main attraction
REBECCA AND THE TOUR OF ROME
Much of the credit for the sightseeing belongs to Rebecca, whose knowledge of Rome — its history, its layers, its hidden corners — brought the city alive for the entire party. From the first-century emperors to the Renaissance popes, from Michelangelo’s Capitoline piazza to the engineering miracle of the Pantheon’s dome, Rebecca’s enthusiasm was as inexhaustible as it was infectious. She also had to contend with the distraction of the blazers, which meant that her charges were frequently interrupted by admiring strangers — and handled it with characteristic good grace.
Rebecca — guide, historian, and very good company
The private dinner she arranged for the touring party was, by common consent, the perfect end to a perfect tour. The Hogs are in her debt.
The Fixtures
Played at the Capannelle ground on the southern edge of the city, ringed by the stone pines that are as Roman as the Forum itself. Capannelle is one of the oldest cricket clubs in Italy, run with infectious passion by a community drawn from across the cricketing world. The ground, the welcome, and the setting were everything a touring side could ask for.
The fixture that gave the tour its name. St Peter’s XI play at one of the most extraordinary cricket venues anywhere in the world — and the badge on their yellow blazer, the crossed keys of the Papacy in gold and silver, tells you everything about the setting. Their captain for the day was a priest in a yellow blazer, which is not something one encounters at Warnford. The match was competitive, the hospitality generous, and the occasion wholly memorable.
The St Peter’s XI captain and blazer badge
End of play at Capannelle — the Roman sun does not disappoint
The Next Stop
Rome has whetted the appetite considerably. The committee is already considering destinations for 2027 — Corfu, with its extraordinary cricketing history stretching back to the British garrison of the early nineteenth century, is high on the list. Suggestions from members are welcome. Register your interest in future tours with the Honorary Secretary.
And if the blazers are going, so much the better.
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