Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Lore & Background

Construction began in 1928 under Enrico Del Debbio and the venue was expanded in 1937 by Luigi Moretti. World War II interrupted further expansions; after the Liberation of Rome in June 1944, the stadium was used by the Allies as vehicle storage and as a location for Anglo-American military competitions. After the war, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), appointed as operator of the venue, completed construction, and it was opened on 17 May 1953 with a football game between Italy and Hungary. It changed its name to Olimpico in 1955, when Rome was awarded responsibility for the 1960 Summer Olympics. Before 1990, the venue was almost entirely unroofed, except for the Monte Mario Grandstand. In 1990, the Olimpico was rebuilt and roofed for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hum to life at 19:45, and the Flaminio air smells of wet grass and warm concrete. In the Curva Sud, a sea of blue and white scarves rises like a tide, and the first beat of the fischietti—thousands of plastic whistles clicked in unison—rolls across the pitch like distant thunder. A young boy in the third row of the Gradinata, his father's old Italy jersey stretched over his shoulders, presses his face to the railing and watches the Azzurri jog out, their blue shirts catching the light. The anthem swells. The boy's father, a weathered man with a stubble of grey, does not sing; he simply stands, arms crossed, eyes closed, letting the sound fill the hollow place behind his ribs. Around them, seventy thousand voices become one. The ball is kicked. Rome holds its breath. The match begins.

Reader's Guide

The Olimpico was the principal venue for the 1968 and 1980 European Championships as well as the 1990 FIFA World Cup, hosting the grand final for each competition, as well as a group stage and one of the quarter-finals of the 2020 European Championship. The venue hosted two finals of the European Cup, in 1977 and 1984, and two UEFA Champions' League finals, in 1996 and 2009. Since 2008, the Olimpico has hosted the Coppa Italia final. The Olimpico hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and track-and-field events of the 1960 Olympics, the 1974 European Athletics Championships, the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1975 Universiade. In 2024, it hosted the European Athletics Championships. It has hosted the Golden Gala since 1980 and, since 2012, is the usual venue of the Italian rugby union team in the Six Nations Championship. After its 1990 reconstruction, the stadium has also hosted concerts.

Did You Know?

• Ciro Immobile has scored the most goals at the stadium (120).
• The record for highest attendance for a musical event at the stadium was set in 1998 when 90,000 spectators attended a concert of Claudio Baglioni.
• The stadium was originally called Stadio dei Cipressi and opened on 22 October 1932, though without the planned capacity of 100,000.