summer 2023

Visiting Lionel Messi’s hometown was an absolute must when I began planning my South American trip in 2023. I didn’t know a hell of a lot about Rosario, Sante Fe, his hometown, but once I did the proper research, it turned out that it was only about 4 hours, by bus, from Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. To make things much more convenient, it turned out that there was a regular bus service to and from, so I began contacting some guides who would be able to meet me at the bus station and show me around, keep me safe, and get a much better feel for the area, taking me to all the spots, his school, childhood home, first club, and some of the other places that he used to go.

I met my guide on arrival at the bus station and we began the Messi tour, one of the most popular things to do in Rosario, Rosario is also the birthplace of Angel Di Maria, fellow World Cup 2022 winner.

We began by going to his old primary school and toured most of the classrooms and the surrounding areas. Messi attended school here up until he was about 13 before he moved to Barcelona. His teacher described him as a shy student, but also very athletic, a lot of his childhood friends also described him as being overly fast.

He began playing football at , A Grandoli, where he was soon spotted by some scouts. His grandmother would take him to football training every week. During this period he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency and he underwent treatment and then, once recovered, he continued to train with A Grandoli and trained with some other clubs in Buenos Aires before moving overseas at a young age.

Then, to finish, we went to his childhood home, which is a much more visited area of the city. There were plenty of Argentinian flags placed around his house, in celebration of the 2022 World Cup victory, and the street where he was raised is not that big, only a couple of houses, the entire area is not that packed, and Rosario is a lot smaller than Buenos Aires and other major cities in Argentina.

The entire tour can all be done within a day, presuming you take the early bus from Buenos Aires and are willing to wait in traffic on the way back. You can easily do the following, take the 8 am bus from Buenos Aires, arrive in Rosario at about 12, then take the bus back at about 5 + arrive back in Buenos Aires at about 10 or thereabouts.