Argentine Family Honors Maradona’s Legacy With Moving Bus Tribute

As soon as the bus is in front of the obelisk that is famous all over the world in Buenos Aires, hundreds of supporters of Diego Maradona are already celebrating it with loud singing. It is the fourth anniversary of the death of the Argentine football legend and Lucas and Estefania Artini have just achieved the vision of the day in front of the obelisks.

The “Maradona Mobile” is a tribute to the popular hero. There is a sort of image of the “Hand of God” hanging above the steering wheel. Every inch of the exterior of the 1961 Mercedes bus is decorated with a scene from Maradona’s life. Pictures that show him as a young football player, as a coach Lionel Messi. But above her time as captain of the Argentine national team and SSC Napoli. The vehicle is a work of art in itself. And for many years it has been home to Lucas and Estefania Artini and their two children.

“Our trip is a memory,” says 37-year-old Lucas Artini. It started in 2021, after the pandemic. After a period of confinement, the family wanted to go out into the world. “It was and is our idea to bring Maradona’s image into the world so that he is remembered. Everywhere we are. In every city, every city, every country. So that Maradona is always remembered, so that people talk about him.” And the big dream, says Artini, is to come to Italy, to Naples, to the city where Maradona is so revered.

When they decided to travel, the Artini family sold their small textile business in the city of Mercedes in the province of Buenos Aires and bought their old car. The Artinis have been on the road ever since. In a bus that brings back the life of their idol so precisely that the eye of every observer catches a piece of Diego Maradona. And then the journey begins in your head. When was that and where?

When the Artinis left, they still had their savings, but then the engine of their classic car broke, first in Brazil and then in Uruguay. The second engine cost the last of their money. After that, says Lucas Artini, it was understood that there were no fixed dates anymore, but only wishes as to how things could continue. “That you need perseverance and that everything will succeed if you do it with love and humility,” says Artini.

People sleep, argue and study on the bus

Since the failure of the second engine, the Artinis have been traveling salesmen, like craftsmen on the road. “Every day we work, paint, work in the bathroom salon or on the construction site. Whatever it takes to maintain our dream of this life,” says Artini. The children are taught on the bus. People sleep there, eat, argue, make love and of course drive a car.

They post pictures and clips from their trip on social networks. About a theft in which the car’s cables and battery disappeared overnight. From what happened to the people they meet. About the heat they are getting. Of affection. And also the respect for leaving everyday life behind and daring to go on an adventure. Sometimes there is also a small donation.

The cult of Maradona in Argentina has long taken on religious characteristics. Argentines criticize his lifestyle. So close to brutal leftist dictatorships in Latin America, from which he also paid and looked the other way when he himself, a drug addict, crossed all borders, taking his – into legal ones, on trips to Venezuela or other countries. Because they knew the effect it had on people and it brought them closer to the people they lost a long time ago.

At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona scored his famous handball goal. That made him a folk hero in his own country and, at one point, the most hated figure in the United Kingdom.

This was the time when the football player Maradona became very spiritual. Because he called on the hand of God who received that goal. Because he defeated the colonial power of England and thus avenged the shame of the lost Falklands War. Within three minutes, people saw two goals – first the Hands goal, then the unforgettable solo run – and also the two faces of Diego Maradona: the great player who never followed the rules. The 2-0 win over England in the quarter-finals was the game of his life.

“Maradona gave voice to many people”

“I think that Maradona, who came from such a small and humble background, did not forget his roots,” says Lucas Artini. “And it was the voice of the players, the voice of the people who had no voice.

Maradona’s influence cannot be rationally explained, but football is nowhere in the world as emotional and irrational as Argentina. Here you can buy statues of football players who have achieved amazing things, such as World Cup goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez. Where poor Argentines kneel in front of a picture of Maradona to pray. Something like this only exists in Naples. And that’s exactly where the Artinis want to go in the next few years. somehow.

Of course, Maradona’s family has also heard about this particular bus and the family that went on an adventurous journey with it. They met on Maradona’s birthday. Claudia who was Maradona’s wife, daughter Gianinna and grandson Benjamin. “We told them that Diego is always with us with a lot of respect and love,” says Lucas Artini.

Next year, the remains of Diego Maradona will be moved to a mausoleum in the posh area of ​​Puerto Madero. A stone’s throw from the presidential palace Casa Rosada. It was previously located in Bella Vista Cemetery, where access was by permit only. It is the special wish of his daughters Dalma and Gianinna Maradona that he come to the mausoleum of the M10 in the heart of Buenos Aires. One family that will definitely come to visit is the family of Lucas and Estefania Artini.