NIKE TIEMPO LEGEND IX “MONTEBELLUNA”

The Tiempo has long reigned as Nike’s classiest silo. The Swoosh’s longest lasting boot silo, it has managed to evolve throughout the years, changing with the times to ensure that it always stays relevant and ever-present on pitches at the top level of the game since its debut almost 30 years ago. Now Nike take the Tiempo back to its spiritual home of Montebelluna, Italy, for a special edition inspired partially by Andrea Pirlo’s performances in the white and blue Air Tiempo Legend of 2006.

Montebelluna, dwarfed by the nearby Dolomites mountain range in the Southern Alps, houses only 30,000 people but is home to some of the worlds best expert cobblers. A small team who live and breathe Nike, their days are spent carefully crafting elite Nike boots, often for the world’s elite players. See, this is where the world's best players get their boots custom-made, with 1/4 and 3/4 sizes created to ensure that perfect fit, and no last the same. It’s the home of Nike's master craftsmen, and the birthplace of some of Nike's biggest hitters over the years, so when we say that the Tiempo Legend IX ‘Made In Italy’ really is a premium special edition worth note, you know we mean it.

The Tiempo Legend IX ‘Made In Italy’ has been constructed from the most premium Algeria leather. The leather is untreated, which gives the boot its distinctive grey colour. That’s then joined by chrome in the soleplate as a nod to the Air Legend’s grey and silver plate. Strong stitch lines standout across the upper, while that trademark Swoosh flies from the heel down the lateral side in blue. And checking that heel, you’ll find a nice callout to Montebelluna itself, along with a small Italian flag tab.

Performance-wise, it’s still a modern Tiempo, so you get the soft foam pods on the upper for touch, the adaptive mesh tongue for comfort, and the lightweight soleplate for fast, agile play.