In this article the authors attempt to outline some aspects of the current situation of football hooliganism in Italy. First, they argue that the mechanism by which the ultras groups self-reproduced slipped sharply into crisis towards the end of the 1980s with the break-up of urban social gathering points for youth. Second, the inverse process is nowadays much more likely: the Italian grounds are taking on the configuration of a place of primary sociality, and within them a community is assuming a form and a structure which enables it to affirm itself and to act even outside the grounds. Third, traditional-type episodes of football hooliganism have actually diminished in Italy, but they have been partially replaced by new forms of stadium conflict which have still to be identified and studied.