Franco Carrera, the former Novara captain who swapped football for a second career as a chef on Lake Maggiore, died on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at his home in Belgirate after a long illness. He was 82.
From Juventus to Novara
Carrera was born in Turin on November 8, 1943, and came through the Juventus youth system. He made his Serie A debut for Juventus against Bologna on February 10, 1963, in a side that included Omar Sívori, and later had a brief spell in the top flight with SPAL. With Potenza he came close to promotion to Serie A in 1964-65, alongside Roberto Boninsegna.
In 1969 the coach Carlo Parola brought him to Novara, wanting a player he could trust in midfield. Carrera wore the captain’s armband for six straight seasons and led the club to the Serie C title. Teammates remembered him as the glue of the dressing room, and for cooking midnight spaghetti for the squad during training camps, with Parola’s blessing. La Prealpina credits him with 211 appearances and 22 goals for Novara.
He played the 1975-76 Serie B season for Taranto, then moved to Parma, and finished his career in Serie D with Aosta in 1978. In all, he made 14 Serie A and 296 Serie B appearances, scoring 36 goals in Serie B.
Vecchia Arona
After retiring, Carrera settled in Arona on Lake Maggiore and opened the restaurant Vecchia Arona, which became one of the best known on the lakefront. His cooking was traditional Piedmontese, and his signature dish was ravioli, served in many styles. He made his last appearance as a chef in 2022 at the “Saperi e Sapori” food festival in Verbania, and a few months before his death joined former Novara teammates for a reunion at the club’s Novarello training centre.
He lived in Belgirate with his wife, Loretta.