Meazza Stadium: eight decades of Italian soccer
08/26/2008 9:35 AM
08/26/2008 9:35 AM - To oldtimers, it is still known as San Siro. To most folks, however, the current home of AC MIlan and Internazionale FC is officially called Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, named for the legendary soccer star of the Italy's 1938 World Cup winning team. What was once a 20,000 seat, bares-boned structure built just for soccer has grown into an 85,000 seat facility that now hosts boxing matches and concerts (Bob Marley played his only Italian gig there. Bruce Springsteen has been there as well.) How it came to be It all hatched in the mind of the then AC Milan president Piero Pirelli who wanted to construct a stadium worthy of the culturally rich and posh city of Milan. He started construction on the stadium in 1925 and 13 and a half months later thanks to 120 builders, one million kilograms of cement and 3,500 cubic metres of sand, the task was accomplished. The stadium was built on an Anglo-Saxon model and featured four independent tribunes placed close to the playing field. Since Pirelli wanted the stadium to be exclusively a football stadium, the architects left no space for an athletics track around the pitch that otherwise mar several Italian stadiums. It opened on September 19, 1926 when Inter Milan defeated AC MIlan, 6-3. Time for Renovations The first phase of renovation of this gargantuan stadium was in 1935 when two of the main stands were enlarged, four curvilinear stands were built and the corners closed. This allowed the stadium capacity to be raised to g 55,000. 20 years later, the San Siro was expanded further. A second ring of stands was built and the stadium was expanded further. |
