Serie A Stadiums

Stadio San Siro Milan & Inter

Home to both Inter and AC Milan, two of the country’s most successful football clubs, the stadium is officially known as the Giuseppe Meazza. Named in honour of the Inter and Milan player of the 1930’s and 1940’s, Meazza played for both sides but enjoyed greater success with Inter and is more favoured by the inter fans; as a result Milan supporters favour the original name of the San Siro and the name that has stuck with world football

Originally built in 1925, the inauguration of the San Siro was on 19^th September 1926 when 35,000 spectators saw Inter defeat Milan 6-3. Further renovations have lead to the San Siro as currently being considered one of the best stadiums in the world. The architects designed the stadium for sole use as a football stadium. This means that there is no athletics track (that is often found and criticised at European grounds) and allows the stands to be built much closer to the pitch. With the spectators being so close to the action, the stands being so steep and with a large roof, it is considered to have one of the best atmospheres of any stadium in the world.

The most notable rennovation was brought about in 1990 ready for the Italia 90 Word Cup. This saw the development of a thrid tier added to 3 sides of the ground and the construction of the distinguishable 11concreter towers outside of the ground, 4 of which support the equally distinctive roof with it’s protruding red gurders. The developments saw the San Siro become an all seater stadiium, bringing up to UEFA 5 star standards, allowing it to bid for and host the Champions League final.

Before becoming an all seater the stadiums highers official capacity was 150,000 when the second teir was added. Although this claimed figure by Milan the actual capacity was probably on 125,000, which is still very impressive. With the groud origianlly owned by Milan, inter later became tennents and have growned shared ever since. Both teams are now infact tennants and the ground is owned by the Municipality of Milan. It is rumoured that in the future the third tier will be added to the east side of the stadium, however this requires the purchase of land from the present Hippodrome, behind the stadium.

Stadio Olimpico Roma & Lazio

The Stadio Olimpico is the major stadium in Rome and is host to both AS Roma and SS Lazio and the Italian national team. It serves both as an athletics and football stadium having hosted 1960 Olympics and 1987 World Athletic Championships. The stadium is located in the North of Rome along the river Tiber in the Foro Italico Sportpark about 6kn from the City Centre. Whilst perhaps the Derby Della Capitale or, simply Rome Derby in English, is not quite as famous as the Milan Derby it is certainly the fiercest contested Derby in Italy.

Both teams hate the arrogance from the Northern teams (Milan, Turin) but they hate each other more. AS Roma is the team supported in the popular roman districts while Lazio support is more from the rich Roman districts of the city. The political differences between the fans used to be one of the reasons of this rivalry. The Laziali in general had right-wing idea's while the Roma fans were more left-wing orientated.

The 'Curva Sud' is home of the AS Roma fans and the 'Curva Nord' belongs to the Laziali.

The stadium has often seen violent clashes between opposing sets of supporters, not just on Derby day but also on other big occasion such as in the Champions league. The stadium has been the victim of a lot of vandalism from both sets of supporters, possibly influenced in the fact that neither clubs own the ground, so it is not seen as their property.

Stadio Olimpico di T orino Torino & Juventus

Before 2006 the stadium was originally known as Stadio Comunale di Torino and was built with a capcity of 65,000 for the 1934 FIFA World Cup. For Many years it was the home of both Juventus and Torino FC, before the Delle Alpi opened 1990 for the World cup that year. When both teams moved out the stadium lay abandoned for several years, before being chosen to host the 2006 Winter Olympics. This saw much needed investment into the stadium and the original structure demolished in this refurbisment. The new version of the stadium has 27,128 covered seats and is owned by Torino FC with Juventus currently tennants whilst the future of the Delle Alpi is considered

Stadio Luigi Ferraris Sampdoria & Genoa

The Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi has a capacity of around 40,000 specators and is similar in design to that of a tradition English football stadium with 4 separate stands. It was originally opened in 1911 but was completely renovated for the 1990 World Cup where it hosted 4 matches.

Stadio Artemio Franchi Fiorentina

Home to ACF Fiorentina, the stadium holds 47,000. It has somewhat of a continental feel to it, but has benefited from renovations in 1990 which saw the removal of the running track and seating capacity increased. The stadium is built entirely of reinforced concrete with a 70 meter (230 ft) tower that bears the stadium's flagstaff. The tower is called the "Tower of Marathon". Around the base of the tower, spiral ramps lead from the ground floor to the upper edge of the grandstand.

Stadio Ennio Tardini Parma

Named after the first President of Parma, Ennio Tardini, the stadium opened in 1923. This is one of the more compact of Serie A’s stadiums, with a capacity of 28,800, allowing for an atmosphere not dissimilar to that seen in the British game. Renovations to bring it up to European standards occurred in the early 90’s, with the redevelopment of the Petitot stand, then the Curva Nord and Curva Sud.

Its close proximity to the city centre make it easy to get to for visiting fans.

Stadio Friuli Udinese

Up in the North-East of Italy next to the Slovenian border, the Stadio Friuli was built in 1971, with a capacity of 41,700. This ground, like many in Serie A, is owned by the local authorities, and is rented by Udinese. It is also used for Athletics as it has facilities for other sports, and is famous even for hosting concerts, with ones by Vasco Rossi and Red Hot Chilli Peppers especially famous.

Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia Atalanta

Near to Milan, the Atleti d’Italia is in Bergamo, and was built in 1928, originally named after a fascist, Mario Brumana, but subsequently renamed. The stadium itselfs hosts both football matches and rugby, with a capacity of 26,393.

Stadio San Paolo Napoli

Built in 1959, the Stadio San Paolo is one of the more beautiful stadiums, but is also one of the biggest in the world, with a 78,210 capacity (60,420 seats) and had the highest average attendance last year, behind Inter and Milan. An interesting fact is that Italian law was the only thing preventing the renaming of the Stadium after Diego Maradona, as he needed to have been dead for ten years first.