One of the most famous sights of Milan and a real Mecca for travelers coming to the city, regardless of whether they like football or not, is considered to be San Siro. The stadium, whose address any local child knows, is located on Piazzale Angelo Moratti.
Background
At the end of the nineteenth century, the Milan Club was created. With this event, the beginning of the construction of the stadium is connected. At that time, football as a separate sport was gradually gaining popularity. Thus, the fact that the athletes needed their own training base was obvious. As a result, club president Piero Pirelli purchased a plot near the local hippodrome, laying out several million lire for it. At this place, over time, the San Siro stadium appeared (photos are presented below).
Construction
The arena construction process started in 1925. Her project was developed by renowned architects Ulisse Staccini and Alberto Kujini. It took builders about thirteen months to bring it to life. During this period, a colossal amount of money at that time was spent. The construction of the stadium required about ten thousand tons of cement and two thousand tons of metal. But the result was worth it. The opening ceremony of the facility, named after the nearby church, Nuovo Stadio Calcistico San Siro, took place on September 19. Initially, the arena repeated the classical architecture of similar British structures with its appearance. In particular, the football field was surrounded on four sides by stands 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 treadmills and other athletics elements. Thanks to this, it was possible to ensure close contact between athletes and visitors of the San Siro. The capacity of the arena at the time of opening was 35 thousand spectators.
First matches
On the opening day of the stadium, the first match was held on it. That day, the Milan and Inter teams came together in a friendly match. An interesting match for the audience ended with a confident victory for the guests with a score of 3: 6. A month later there was a debut game with official status. The home team lost again in it. In February 1927, the first international match was held in the arena, in which the Italian team opposed Czechoslovakia. The meeting ended in a draw with the score 2: 2.
Co-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 increased significantly, because this sport was becoming 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. The stadium of Inter (another local club) - Arena Napoleonica - in terms of quality and scale did not meet the requirements of modern conditions. Therefore, in 1947, the Milanese municipality proposed granting the right to use the San Siro facility to both local teams. Representatives of two clubs supported this idea. As a result, to this day, the arena remains native to Milan and Inter.
Since the load on the object doubled, the city authorities initiated its global restructuring in 1955. The authors of the project were engineer Calzoari and architect Rocca. According to their project, a second tier appeared in the arena. Spectators were divided into tiers. As such, the stadium began to accommodate 82 thousand fans.
Rename
In 1979, the arena received another name. To perpetuate 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 Milan audience simply idolized this forward, the name took root very quickly. A year later, the facility was again somewhat modernized. Now fans of Milan prefer the old name, while supporters of Inter are leaning towards Giuseppe Meazza. In order not to offend anyone, even the most authoritative sports publications try to mention both names the same number of times in their materials.
World Cup preparation
Shortly before the start of the 1990 world football championship (especially for the sake of this tournament), another - and so far the last - reconstruction was carried out at the stadium. One of the main ideas of the bold project was the construction of the third tier at the San Siro. The stadium, in addition, received a transparent roof made of polycarbonate. To support the new tier around the arena, builders erected seven powerful columns, and four more for stairwells. According to experts, the cost of all work exceeded the mark of 70 million euros. Since, according to the new rules, the fans were supposed to watch the fights exclusively while sitting, the capacity of the arena decreased to 80,018 spectators. Be that as it may, according to this indicator, it still remains one of the largest on the planet.
A little later, the city authorities were forced to spend another 30 million euros on remodeling the roof. The fact is that the engineers did not take into account such a nuance as access to fresh air, and therefore after 10 minutes of the game the fans became unbearably stuffy. Moreover, the arena's normal lighting suffered from the transparent roof. All of these flaws were successfully addressed.
How to get there
One of the most visible sites in the center of Milan is the San Siro Stadium. How to get here, can tell any local. Prefer to use public transport? Excellent! We can offer you several popular travel options at once. The easiest way is to get off at the “Ploshchad Lotto” stop on the Red Line of the MM1 metro line, and then get to the final stop of bus route No. 49. In addition, the 16th tram that runs directly to the arena runs directly from Duomo Square. On match days involving Milan and Inter, direct bus routes from different areas of the city are organized.
Interesting Facts
San Siro is the stadium where the final match of the 2016 Champions League will be held.
Other significant fights held in the arena are the games of the world championships of 1934 and 1990, as well as the finals of the European 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, Bob Marley, Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson, Madonna and many other artists gave concerts in the arena at different times.
The museum inside the San Siro stadium enjoys great popularity among tourists coming to Milan. Here, about 3,500 unique exhibits are on display for the public. These include trophies won by both clubs, medals, flags, pennants, as well as paintings depicting famous football players and coaches.