Italian Serie D side AS Ostia Mare are the latest club to get a fresh overhaul of their visual identity courtesy of Ezeta, with the creative brand bestowing a full new kit set in their signature style upon them.
Once again drawing on the rich history and heritage of Rome, Ezeta turn their unique talents to another team from the lower leagues of Italian football in AS Ostia Mare. Located in Ostia, a frazione of Rome, Lazio, AS Ostia Mare currently ply their trade in Serie D. For their home and away shirts, which come in shades of purple and red respectively, the inspiration is drawn from the Mosaic of Bacchus and Ariadne, while the third and fourth shirts are inspired by the Municipal Palace Of Ostia.
The collaboration between the brand and club started with a reinvention of the club crest, as is often the case with Ezeta's creative direction. This was once again accomplished with the help of designer, Dan Norris, who has stepped in for the redesign of several club crests for Ezeta.
The new crest is presented as a circle for a more contemporary feel. In it, a seagull splits the circle in two parts in order to include the full name of the club: "Ostiamare Lido Calcio 1945". The white and purple stripes are inclined according to the direction of the seagull's flight, providing a more dynamic look.
Then, for the home shirt, Ezeta researched the meaning of the purple colour (Ostia Mare's traditional home colours) in antiquity and found the connection with the deity of Bacchus, God of the grape harvest. At the Ostia archaeological park there is a precious mosaic depicting the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne, dating back to the Hadrian age 117-138 AD. And so it was from here that the new shirt designs drew inspiration. This same template was used for the away shirt, presented in red.
The third and fourth shirts are then inspired by the Municipal Palace of Ostia. The Municipal Palace is in the civic centre of Ostia and it was built between the 1924 and the 1926. The architect who designed the building is Vincenzo Fasolo, and he combined medieval elements with his classic Venetian style. The iconic elements within are inspired by Roman Mythology: Poseidon (the god of the sea and oceans); Hippocampus (the mythological marine animal half horse and half fish); The Capitoline she-wolf (that represents the close link with Rome); Ears Of Wheat (because Ostia was founded by Ancus Marcius in order to be the ancient seaport of Rome and import mainly the wheat to Roma from all the provinces of Roman empire). And so Ezeta chose to merge all these elements in order to create an iconic geometrical pattern all over the jersey.
The design template here uses a band across the chest, in similar fashion to some of Ezeta's past shirt templates. The third jersey inverts the colours of the home shirt, with white as the base colour and purple as the accent colour, while the fourth shirt arrives in golden yellow hues inspired by the wheat colours and the shade of yellow in the municipal building courtyard.
The Ezeta x AS Ostia Mare kits are available at classicfootballshirts.co.uk
