Jamie Vardy at Cremonese: Leicester hero is scoring goals in Serie A at 39 - and Foxes fans are still visiting him in Italy

When Inter visit Cremonese on Sunday, expect the attendance at the Stadio Giovani Zini to be swollen by a particular type of supporter – and it will not be the Serie A leaders they are there to see. Jamie Vardy tourism is booming among Leicester fans.

Vardy, now 39, left the club in the summer after 13 impossibly eventful seasons but his adventures continue in Italy. A steady stream of well-wishers of a Leicester persuasion, disillusioned by their own club's plight, remain inspired by their greatest ever player.

They were there in numbers again for the recent home game against Hellas Verona, Leicester shirts peppering the crowd in the Cremona cold. Speaking to one group of nine, they explained that it was a pilgrimage to pay tribute to their title-winning hero.

Carrying a flag that simply reads 'Thank you Vards' these family and friends were well received by locals now accustomed to receiving more visitors than usual. Cremona is famous for Antonio Stradivari and his violins. There is a new form of tourism in town.

"We bought Cremonese shirts and we had a nice meal," says one fan, Jackie Troy. "What was really nice is that while we do not speak Italian, to our detriment, and in Cremona they do not all speak English, everywhere we went they would just say, 'Jamie Vardy!'"

Cremonese have had big names play for them before. World Cup winner Antonio Cabrini started his career here, the late great Gianluca Vialli too, while many of a certain generation will remember fondly the balding figure of flying winger Attilio Lombardo.

But the club has been to the fourth tier and back since then. It has been over 30 years since this sleepy city of 70,000 in Lombardy saw their side survive a Serie A season. Having a former England striker with 145 Premier League goals to his name is new.

It is reflected in the excitement. It is not quite Vardy fever in Cremona, it is not that kind of place. In the main square, the football calendars are devoted to Juventus, Milan and Inter - the big clubs to the North West only a little over an hour away on the fast train.

But it is not only Leicester supporters who are among the intrigued. A group of Italian fans from Bergamo are in the crowd, there just to see him. When the announcer reads out the teams, he goes by squad number except for Vardy. His name is read last.

What helps all this is that Vardy has impressed. While it would be overstating to claim that he has taken Serie A by storm, five goals in 18 games has been a big contribution in a struggling side. He was named the competition's player of the month for December.

His two goals in the win over Bologna that month stood out, although Vardy has also found the net at home against Atalanta, Juventus and Cagliari. Still drinking his Red Bull, still upsetting the odds. Seeing him up close against Verona, that familiar gait remains.

Vardy jokes with his team-mates beforehand and gestures to his family in the hospitality box. Once under way, he becomes embroiled in a spat with his marker and the referee. He even treats the crowd to a nip up - belying his age - when annoyed not to win a foul.

He might be a half a step slower than in his prime but there are still cheers as he goes into challenges, defending from the front and even injuring himself clattering into the frame of the goal when desperately lunging himself at the ball in trying to find the net.

He has made adjustments to his game, improving his link-up play as the years have passed, making intelligent runs. One recalls a conversation with Brendan Rodgers, his old boss at Leicester who described him as "football bright" because of this movement.

"You maybe think of him as just a goalscorer but Jamie knows football inside out," said Rodgers. "His positioning and his reading of the game, he just understands football. He genuinely loves it. He watches it. How many young players actually do that now?"

It helps to explain why Vardy took this step. Moves to the United States or Australia might have been less challenging culturally, while opportunities in the Middle East would have been more lucrative. But Italy, Serie A, it just captures the imagination.

For Nigel Pearson, the manager who signed him for Leicester, took him to the Premier League, and helped set him on this remarkable path, the most important thing is not where Vardy has chosen to play his football but how he is now feeling about himself.

"The most significant reason for him to have succeeded in my opinion is his coming to terms with himself, who he is and what he is," Pearson tells Sky Sports. "He is, for the most part, someone at one with himself now and has hopefully grown to like himself."

In Pearson's view, that stability in Vardy's personal life is key. "He is in a strong and loving relationship with Becky. Apart from all the football ****, the tactics and so on, which he gets incidentally, he is very coachable too, what more does anyone need?"

Italy has not been without its difficulties, even if Vardy is based near the idyllic Lake Garda, just over an hour away from Cremona. They were the victims of an unsettling burglary there not too long ago. He admits it has been a major change for his family.

Vardy's contract is up in the summer, after which he may well look further afield. But there is a job to finish at Cremonese first and the task of keeping the club in the top division for the first time in a generation. They have now gone eight games without a win.

A team short on flair, they need inspiration. Maybe the old rustler might have another trick up those skin-tight sleeves before he leaves. Maybe one or two famous clubs with big ideas and bigger reputations might yet be on the receiving end of his retribution.

The pilgrims from Leicester go in homage as much as hope. But with this guy, you never do know. "Good luck to the loveable rogue," says Pearson. "I have told him I may pop by his gaff, if invited, on my next road trip in Europe." Vardy's own adventure continues.

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Jamie Vardy at Cremonese: Leicester hero is scoring goals in Serie A at 39 - and Foxes fans are still visiting him in Italy