Stadio Flaminio

Stadio Flaminio

Flaminio
Location	Viale dello Stadio Flaminio I-00196 Rome
Coordinates	41°55′37.04″N 12°28′20.28″E / 41.9269556°N 12.4723000°ECoordinates: 41°55′37.04″N 12°28′20.28″E / 41.9269556°N 12.4723000°E
Owner	Municipality of Rome
Operator	Italian Football Federation
Capacity	30,000
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	1957
Opened	1959
Renovated	2008
Construction cost	approx. 900 mln Lire
Architect	Antonio Nervi
Structural engineer	Pier Luigi Nervi
Services engineer	Ingg. Nervi & Bartoli
Tenants
Capitolina Marines Lazio Football Italy national rugby union team 2000–2011

The Stadio Flaminio is a stadium in Rome. It lies along the Via Flaminia, three kilometres northwest of the city centre, 300 metres away from the Parco di Villa Glori.

The interior spaces include a covered swimming pool, rooms for fencing, amateur wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and gymnastics.

History

The stadium was designed by Antonio Nervi, son of Pier Luigi Nervi, author of the stadium's engineering structure. The Stadio Flaminio was built in July 1957, on the site of the previous Stadio Nazionale PNF. It was mostly devoted to football matches and served as the venue for the football final in the 1960 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Events

Michael Jackson performed two sell-out concerts on 23 and 24 May 1988 during his Bad World Tour. Each concert was attended by a crowd of 35,000 fans. Police and security guards rescued hundreds of fans from being crushed in the crowd. Jackson also performed another sell-out concert on 4 July 1992 during the Dangerous World Tour, in front of 35,000 fans.

Madonna was supposed to perform a concert at the stadium on 10 July 1990 during the Blond Ambition Tour, but it was cancelled because of the low ticket sales and the labor unions' strike.

Rugby

It was the home of Italy rugby union national team for Six Nations tournament home matches from Italy's entry in the competition in 2000 until 2011.

The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) announced, in January 2010, that the stadium would undergo an expansion, that will increase its capacity to 42,000, before the 2012 Six Nations Championship.^[2] A failure to progress these plans has been cited as the reason for moving Italy's home Six Nations games from 2012.^[3] With a capacity of 32,000 (8,000 covered), it was the smallest of the Six Nations stadiums. It is no longer considered big enough for the Italian national team and there were frequent reports^[2] that the national team would move to Genoa or to the Stadio Olimpico di Roma. This change was confirmed with the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) becoming upset at broken promises of renovations. It was initially reported that the FIR would move Six Nations matches to Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence.^[3] However, when the city finally began the promised renovations, FIR announced that it would instead keep its Six Nations home fixtures in Rome at Stadio Olimpico,^[4] and that it would return to the Flaminio once the project is completed.^[5]

The stadium was originally slated to become the home of Praetorians Roma, a newly formed team that would be one of Italy's two representatives in the Celtic League.^[6] However, it was later decided that Benetton Treviso would replace Praetorians.^[7]

Football

In 1989–90 season both Roma and Lazio played at Stadio Flaminio during the renovations of Stadio Olimpico.^[8] Stadio Flaminio was also the home of Atletico Roma F.C., an association football club who played in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, but were dissolved in 2011.

References

1. 1960 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. pp. 58, 60.
2. "Stadio Flaminio set for re-vamp". Scrum.com. 30 January 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
3. "Italy to move Six Nations games from Rome to Florence". BBC Sport. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
4. "RBS 6 Nazioni, allo Stadio Olimpico l'Edizione 2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Italian Rugby Federation. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
5. Sportsbeat (14 July 2011). "Italy switch stadium to Stadio Olimpico". RBS 6 Nations. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
6. "Italians pick Celtic League teams". BBC Sport. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
7. "Il Veneto in Celtic League, Roma fuori" (in Italian). Rugby Veneto. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
8. http://www.stadiodi.it/flaminio-roma/