Stadio Artemio Franchi

Stadio Artemio Franchi

Stadio Comunale
Former names	Stadio Comunale
Location	Florence, Italy
Owner	Municipality of Florence
Capacity	47,282
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1931
Renovated	1990
Architect	Pier Luigi Nervi
Tenants
ACF Fiorentina

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.^[1][2] The old nickname of the stadium was "Comunale." When it was first constructed, it was known as the Stadio Giovanni Berta.

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.^[3] The architect is Pier Luigi Nervi^[4] (known for the Nervi Hall in the Vatican) and it is one of the most relevant examples of 20th-century architecture in the city.^[5]

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.^[4]

It hosted some of the matches of the 1934 World Cup, as well as football preliminaries for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.^[6] 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^[4] 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.^[7]

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 he returned on June 10, 2012 for the "Wrecking Ball Tour". 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.^[8] 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.^{[9] [10]}

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.^[11][12]

1990 FIFA World Cup

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

References

Olympic venues in association football 1900 Vélodrome de Vincennes 1904 Francis Field 1908 White City Stadium 1912 Råsunda IP, Stockholm Olympic Stadium (final), Tranebergs Idrottsplats 1920 Jules Ottenstadion, Olympisch Stadion (final), Stade Joseph Marien, Stadion Broodstraat 1924 Stade Bergeyre, Stade de Colombes (final), Stade de Paris, Stade Pershing 1928 Monnikenhuize, Olympic Stadium (final), Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel 1936 Hertha-BSC Field, Mommsenstadion, Olympiastadion (final), Poststadion 1948 Arsenal Stadium, Champion Hill, Craven Cottage, Cricklefield Stadium, Empire Stadium (medal matches), Green Pond Road, Griffin Park, Selhurst Park, White Hart Lane 1952 Helsinki Football Grounds, Kotka, Lahti, Olympic Stadium (final), Tampere, Turku 1956 Melbourne Cricket Ground (final), Olympic Park Stadium 1960 Florence Communal Stadium, Grosseto Communal Stadium, L'Aquila Communal Stadium, Livorno Ardenza Stadium, Naples Saint Paul's Stadium, Pescara Adriatic Stadium, Stadio Flaminio (final) 1964 Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, Mitsuzawa Football Field, Nagai Stadium, Tokyo National Stadium (final), Nishikyogoku Athletic Stadium, Ōmiya Football Field, Prince Chichibu Memorial Football Field 1968 Estadio Azteca (final), Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Estadio Nou Camp, Jalisco Stadium 1972 Drei Flüsse Stadion, ESV-Stadion, Jahnstadion, Olympiastadion (final), Rosenaustadion, Urban Stadium 1976 Lansdowne Park, Olympic Stadium (final), Sherbrooke Stadium, Varsity Stadium 1980 Dinamo Stadium, Dynamo Central Stadium, Grand Arena, Grand Arena (final), Kirov Stadium, Republican Stadium 1984 Harvard Stadium, Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Rose Bowl (final), Stanford Stadium 1988 Busan Stadium, Daegu Stadium, Daejeon Stadium, Dongdaemun Stadium, Olympic Stadium (final) 1992 Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta, Camp Nou (final), Estadio Luís Casanova, La Romareda, Estadi de Sarrià 1996 Florida Citrus Bowl, Legion Field, Orange Bowl, RFK Memorial Stadium, Sanford Stadium (both finals) 2000 Stadium Australia, Brisbane Cricket Ground, Bruce Stadium, Hindmarsh Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Olympic Stadium (men's final), Sydney Football Stadium (women's final) 2004 Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Karaiskakis Stadium (women's final), Olympic Stadium (men's final), Pampeloponnisiako Stadium, Pankritio Stadium, Panthessaliko Stadium 2008 Beijing National Stadium (men's final), Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Shanghai Stadium, Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Workers' Stadium (women's final) 2012 City of Coventry Stadium, Hampden Park, Millennium Stadium, St James' Park, Old Trafford, Wembley Stadium (both finals) 2016 Estádio Nacional de Brasília, Arena Fonte Nova, Mineirão, Arena Corinthians, Arena da Amazônia, Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, Maracanã (both finals)