Stadio Artemio Franchi

This article is about the football stadium in Florence. For the stadium in Siena, see Stadio Artemio Franchi - Montepaschi Arena.
Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi
Stadio Comunale
Former names Stadio Comunale
Location Florence, Italy
Owner Municipality of Florence
Capacity 43,147[1]
Surface Grass
Construction
Opened 13 September 1931[2]
Renovated 1990
Architect Pier Luigi Nervi
Tenants
ACF Fiorentina

The Stadio Artemio Franchi is a football stadium in Florence, Italy. It is currently the home of ACF Fiorentina. The stadium was temporarily noticed as the host of Italy's Six Nations matches from 2012.[3][4] The old nickname of the stadium was "Comunale." When it was first constructed, it was known as the Stadio Giovanni Berta, after a Florentine fascist.

The stadium was officially opened on the 13th of September 1931 with a match between Fiorentina and Admira Wien (1-0), though it took until 1932 for the stadium to be completely finished and currently holds 47,282.[5] The architect is Pier Luigi Nervi[6] (known for the Nervi Hall in the Vatican) and it is one of the most relevant examples of 20th-century architecture in the city.[7]

The stadium is built entirely of reinforced concrete with a 70-meter (230 ft) tower that bears the stadium's flagstaff. The tower is called the "Tower of Marathon". Around the base of the tower, spiral ramps lead from the ground floor to the upper edge of the grandstand.[6]

It hosted some of the matches of the 1934 World Cup, as well as football preliminaries for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[8] In 1945, it hosted the Spaghetti Bowl between American service teams.

The stadium was originally called the "Comunale" but was renamed after the former FIGC president, Artemio Franchi, in 1991.

The stadium itself underwent renovations for the 1990 FIFA World Cup[6] which included removing the running track and increasing the seating capacity. At the World Cup, the ground hosted three matches in Group A and Argentina's penalty shootout win over Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals.[9]

The official record attendance is 58,271 on 25 November 1984, at a Serie A match between Fiorentina and Internazionale.

Concerts

David Bowie performed at the stadium during his Glass Spider Tour on June 9, 1987.

Madonna performed, with Level 42 as her opening act, the final show of her Who's That Girl World Tour at the stadium on September 6, 1987. This performance was filmed & later released as a VHS & later as a DVD, titled Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy. She performed at the stadium again 25 years later on June 16, 2012 to a sold out crowd of 42,434 people during her MDNA Tour .

Bruce Springsteen performed on June 8, 2003 at the stadium during his The Rising Tour and on June 10, 2012 for the Wrecking Ball World Tour, in front of 42,658 people. It rained for the entire duration of the 2012 concert.

On Sunday June 23, 2013, the stadium hosted a Jovanotti concert. Jovanotti is from Cortona, a city relatively close to Florence, and many members of his family were in the audience including his wife, child and parents.

National team - football

The Italy national football team has played at the stadium, the first occasion being on 7 May 1933 in a 2-0 win over Czechoslovakia. The national team played only one game there between 1982 and 2006; a 2-0 friendly win against Mexico on 20 January 1993. On 1 March 2006, they played a friendly against Germany and won 4-1. The stadium hosted two matches in Euro 2012 qualifying: a 5-0 win over the Faroe Islands, and a 1-0 win over Slovenia on 6 September 2011 which was its most recent international hosting.[10] During the match with Faroe Islands, Fabio Quagliarella (a member of Juventus at the time) scored a goal. Because Fiorentina fans have such a strong rivalry with Juventus, the fans at the stadium booed Quagliarella. It was strange to see Italians boo an Italian player after he scored a goal for Italy.

National team - rugby

The stadium has also hosted international rugby union matches. Italy played Australia on 20 November 2010, losing by a score of 14-32.[11] [12]

Italy won a famous victory against South Africa on 19 November 2016, beating the Springboks for the first time in their history. The final score was 20-18.

Mass UFO Sighting of 1954

On October 27, 1954, a reserve game between Fiorentina and nearby rivals Pistoiese was under way at the Stadio Artemio Franchi when a group of UFOs traveling at high speed abruptly stopped over the stadium. The stadium became silent as the crowd of around 10,000 spectators witnessed the event and described the UFOs as cigar shaped. It was suggested that the most likely explanation was that the silk of mass migrating spiders had agglomerated high in the atmosphere.[13][14]

1990 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and held the following matches:

Date Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round
1990-06-10 United States1–5 CzechoslovakiaGroup A
1990-06-15 Austria0–1 CzechoslovakiaGroup A
1990-06-19 Austria2–1 United StatesGroup A
1990-06-30 Argentina0–0 (3–2 on penalties) YugoslaviaQuarter-finals

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stadio Artemio Franchi (Florence).
  1. ↑ http://it.violachannel.tv/vc13-stadio-franchi.html
  2. ↑ http://www.worldofstadiums.com/europe/italy/stadio-comunale-artemio-franchi/
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ BBC Sport
  5. ↑ http://www.stadiumguide.com/artemiofranchi/
  6. 1 2 3 Zucconi, Guido (1995). Florence: An Architectural Guide (2001 Reprint ed.). San Giovanni Lupatoto (Vr): Arsenale Editrice. p. 131. ISBN 88-7743-147-4.
  7. ↑ Florence Rationalist
  8. ↑ 1960 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. pp. 85-6.
  9. ↑ "1990 Match Schedule". PlanetWorldCup.com. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "ITALIA v AUSTRALIA A FIRENZE IL 20 NOVEMBRE". federugby.it. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
  12. ↑ "Wallabies back on course with 32-14 win over Italy". theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  13. ↑ "The day UFOs hovered over Fiorentina's Stadio Artemio Franchi".
  14. ↑ "The day UFOs stopped play".

Coordinates: 43°46′50.96″N 11°16′56.13″E / 43.7808222°N 11.2822583°E / 43.7808222; 11.2822583

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