Stadium "San Siro": photo, capacity, address

One of the most famous sights of Milan and the real Mecca for travelers to the city, regardless of whether they like football or not, is considered "San Siro". The stadium, the address of which any local child knows, is located in the square of Angelo Moratti.

Prehistory

In the late nineteenth century the club "Milan" was created. With this event, the beginning of the construction of the stadium is connected. At that time, football as a separate sport gradually gained popularity. Thus, it was obvious that the athletes needed their own training base. As a result, the president of the club Piero Pirelli bought a site near the local racetrack, laying out for him several million lire. At this point in time the stadium "San Siro" appeared (the photos are presented below).

Building

The construction of the arena started in 1925. Its project was developed by well-known architects Ulysses Stakkini and Alberto Kugdini. It took the builders about thirteen months to implement it. During this period, a huge amount of money was spent for those times. For the construction of the stadium it took about ten thousand tons of cement and two thousand tons of metal. But the result was worth it. On September 19, the grand opening ceremony of the object named after the nearby church - Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro, took place. Initially, with its appearance, the arena repeated the classical architecture of similar British structures. In particular, the football field was surrounded on four sides by tribunes, made in the form of an amphitheater. Due to the fact that the stadium was built exclusively for football competitions, the president of "Milan" insisted on the absence of racetracks and other athletics elements. Thanks to this, it was possible to ensure close contact between the athletes and the visitors of San Siro. The capacity of the arena at the time of the opening was 35 thousand spectators.

First matches

On the opening day of the stadium, the first duel was held on it. On that day in a friendly meeting the teams "Milan" and "Inter" came together. The most interesting match for the spectators ended with a confident victory of the guests with a score of 3: 6. A month later, there was a debut game with the official status. The home team again lost in it. In February 1927, in the arena was held the first international match in which the Italian national team opposed Czechoslovakia. The meeting ended in a draw with a score of 2: 2.

Joint ownership

For ten years, "San Siro" was at the disposal of only the players of "Milan". After the change of leadership of the club in 1935, the municipality bought the arena into state ownership. The number of football fans at that time significantly increased, because this sport has become increasingly popular. In this regard, the city authorities decided to redevelop the stadium, which ended in 1939 and allowed to increase the capacity to 65 thousand spectators. Stadium "Inter" (another local club) - Arena Napoleonica - in quality and scale did not meet the requirements of the conditions of modern times. Therefore, in 1947, the Milan municipality proposed granting the right to use the San Siro facility to both local teams. Representatives of the two clubs supported this idea. As a result, until today, the arena remains native to "Milan" and "Inter".

As the load on the facility doubled, the city authorities initiated in 1955 its global restructuring. The authors of the project were the engineer Kaltsoari and the architect Rocca. According to their draft, a second tier appeared on the arena. Spectator seats were divided into tiers. In this form the stadium began to accommodate 82 thousand fans.

Rename

In 1979, the arena received another name. To immortalize the memory of the outstanding football player who played for both Milan clubs, Giuseppe Meazza, the city authorities decided to rename the San Siro stadium in his honor. Since the Milanese public idolized this striker, the name quickly took root. A year later the facility was again slightly modernized. Now the fans of "Milan" prefer the old name, while the adherents of "Inter" lean towards "Giuseppe Meazza". In order not to offend anyone, even the most authoritative sports publications try to mention both names in their materials the same number of times.

Preparation for the World Cup

Shortly before the beginning of the world football championship in 1990 (specifically for the sake of this tournament), the stadium held another - and so far the last - reconstruction. One of the main ideas of the bold project was the construction of the third tier on the San Siro. The stadium, in addition, received a transparent roof made of polycarbonate. To support a new tier around the arena, builders built seven powerful columns, and four more for the staircases. According to experts, the cost of all works exceeded the mark of 70 million euros. Since the new rules require fans to watch the matches exclusively sitting, the capacity of the arena has decreased to 80,018 spectators. Whatever it was, this indicator still remains one of the largest on the planet.

A little later, the city authorities were forced to spend another 30 million euros for the redevelopment of the roof. The fact that the engineers did not take into account such a nuance as the access of fresh air, in this connection, after 10 minutes of the game the fans became unbearably stuffy. Moreover, due to the transparent roof, normal lighting of the arena suffered. All these flaws were successfully eliminated.

How to get there

One of the most notable objects in the center of Milan is the San Siro stadium. How to get here, any local resident can tell. Prefer to use public transport? Excellent! We can offer you several popular options at once. The easiest way is to get off at the Lotto Plaza stop on the Red Line of the MM1 metro station, and then drive to the final stop of bus route No. 49. In addition, a direct tram runs straight from the Duomo Square, straight to the arena. In the days of matches with the participation of "Milan" and "Inter" are organized direct bus routes from different parts of the city.

Interesting Facts

"San Siro" - the stadium, where the final match of the Champions League 2016 will be held.

Other significant fights in the arena are the games of the world championships of 1934 and 1990, as well as the finals of the European Champions Cups of 1965 and 1970.

The size of the field is 105x68 meters.

In addition to football competitions, performances of world-famous bands and musicians are often held here. In particular, in the arena at different times gave concerts Bob Marley, Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson, Madonna and many other artists.

The museum inside the San Siro stadium enjoys great popularity among tourists who come to Milan. Here on the public review there are about 3.5 thousand unique exhibits. These include trophies won by both clubs, medals, flags, pennants, as well as pictures depicting famous football players and coaches.