They call it the “La Scala of football” for three reasons: the architectural grandeur of the stadium, the great football events it has hosted, but also as a nod to the famous Milan opera house. As Tony Evans wrote in The Times newspaper in 2009: “Lit up, it looks like a spaceship set down in suburban Milan. It could take on the Death Star and win. It’s that impressive” and he comments to his readers: “The first time you see the Giuseppe Meazza stadium it’s impossible not to gasp.” It was in that year, in fact, that the San Siro Stadium was named the second most beautiful stadium in the world in the top ten global rankings chosen by journalists and former players.
An icon of football as well as architecture, the San Siro stadium is the largest football stadium in Italy, with a top capacity of 80,018. The second largest, some distance away, is the Olympic stadium in Rome, with a capacity of 70,634 spectators. And while we’re talking about records, San Siro is also the stadium with the highest number of trophies globally, since it hosts two top-notch squads at an international level: A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. Let’s take a look at the history of the construction and subsequent enlargements of this famous Milan stadium.
The construction of the San Siro stadium in 1925
The history of the San Siro stadium begins almost a century ago, in a district known as San Siro after the old church of San Siro alla Vepra, although only the apse of the church still stands today. It was Piero Pirelli, son of the founder of the Pirelli tyre company, Giovan Battista Pirelli, who pushed for the construction of the stadium. Piero Pirelli was then the president of A.C. Milan, which is strange given that Pirelli went on to become the main sponsor of Inter Milan. The district had become the main Milan sports complex in that period due to the horse-racing tracks there, which were much more important than the football facilities at the time: indeed, the areas beneath the main stand at San Siro were used as stables for the horses.
The design of the “first” San Siro stadium was entrusted to the architects Ulisse Stacchini (who also designed Milan Central Station) and Alberto Cugini. The result was an English-style stadium, without any particularly futuristic elements: there were four independent stands – of which only one was covered – built in reinforced concrete, with a total capacity of between 35,000 and 40,000 spectators. The overall cost of the construction was less than 2 million lire (the currency at the time), and the stadium became A.C. Milan’s home stadium, while Inter Milan continued to play at the Arena Civica for a further three decades. The stadium was inaugurated with a derby, on 19 September 1926, with Inter winning by 6 goals to 3.
The expansion of San Siro during the 1930s
The original nucleus of the San Siro stadium was constructed in the 1920s. Given the increasing popularity of football around the world, in the 1930s it was decided to embark on an initial enlargement, designed by Bertera and Perlasca: the two main stands were lengthened and links were constructed connecting the stadium on all 4 sides to create the famous “bowl” shape. Inaugurated in 1939 with a match between Italy and England, the stadium claimed to have a capacity of 150,000 people, although the actual capacity was in reality about 60,000. In the years following WWII, it soon became evident that a further extension was necessary, however.
The construction of the second ring of the San Siro stadium during the 1950s
With the construction work of the 1950s, the San Siro stadium took a leap forward towards the structure as we know it today: the objective was to build a second tier. The design was entrusted to Ferruccio Calzolari and Armando Ronca, who, in order to raise the stadium, decided to encase it inside an imposing concrete structure in order to support the second ring of overhanging terraces. Thus, they designed the famous spiral ramps surrounding the interior arena, which took 300 workers 500 working days to construct. We should point out that matches were not suspended during the construction work, so the stadium had to remain partially usable throughout this period. The inauguration took place on 22 April 1956, with a match between Italy and Brazil, which Italy won 3-0.
The 1990s expansion: the towers and the third ring
Since Italy was bidding to host the 1990 FIFA World Cup, further enlargement work became necessary to increase capacity as well as provide more comfort and safety to the spectators. The stadium – by this time dedicated to the famous Milanese player and later coach Giuseppe Meazza – had to be raised further by means of a third tier. To enable this additional increase in height, the architects Ragazzi and Hoffer decided to build 11 cylindrical towers supporting the existing structure, so as to create a partial third ring – excluding the stand nearest to the racecourse since there was not enough space to construct towers there.
The opportunity was taken on this occasion to install roofing over the stands, using the bright red box girders supported by the four towers built at the corners. In this case too, the work was completed without the need to close the stadium. The result is a third ring with a steep 37° rake, matched only by the fifth ring at the Estadio Bernabéu in Madrid and the top ring of the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia, creating an even more striking visual impact for the spectators.
The present Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan
Featuring a Russian-doll style of architecture, with a series of building works carried out over time, each incorporating the previous structures, the San Siro stadium is unique at a global level, offering the perfect representation of a century of Italian football history. Brief renovation work was carried out in 2008 to upgrade the structure in order to comply with UEFA regulations, but this involved only very minor modifications compared to the works described above. Following the 2008 works, the stadium achieved its current maximum capacity of 80,018 spectators.
