Featured image credit: Regione Campania
Regione Campania has unveiled its latest stadium redevelopment project, the transformation of Naples’ historic Stadio Arturo Collana into a multi-sport facility.
Opened in 1929, the Arturo Collana was repurposed by the Nazis as a concentration camp during World War II and also became the home of Serie A football club Napoli for an extended period of time.
The reigning Italian champions played at the stadium from 1944 through to 1959 following the destruction of its Stadio Partenopeo during the war, whilst it awaited the development of current home, Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Located in the Vomero district of Naples, Regione Campania has now set out a €40m (£34.4m/$43.9m) plan to renovate the Arturo Collana and make it increasingly usable to host a variety of sporting activities.
The two-year project envisages the creation of 10 new gyms, a basketball court and an ice rink, in addition to the indoor swimming pool, whose adaptation and renovation works are already underway.
Total coverage of the stadium’s stands is planned, both on the Vico Acitillo side, for which demolition and reconstruction is envisioned, and on the Quattro Giornate side. As regards the pitch and the athletics track, the installation of new LED lighting on the stands is planned, to enhance the staging of events. A video of the vision for the project can be viewed here.
“We are truly engaged with an enormous effort in sports facilities starting from 2018 ahead of the (2019) Universiade (in Naples),” President of Regione Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, said:
“The Collana is a historic facility in the city of Naples, to which we are all linked for many reasons. It is a key point not only for the relaunch of sporting activity, for families and clubs, but also for the Vomero district.
“Sporting activity is, today, one of the main opportunities we have for saving an entire generation because the level of psychological suffering that we register among young people is shocking.
“For these reasons we have made the maximum possible effort, €40m, despite the fact that the national government has kept blocking development and cohesion funds for more than a year. Funds that would be, in fact, also intended for sports facilities.”
Regione Campania last week presented a €95m scheme to transform Stadio Arechi, the home of Serie A club Salernitana, into what it claims will be the most modern stadium in Italy.
The local authority presented the plans on July 27, with the GAU Arena studio selected to design the Nuovo Stadio Arechi. The stadium has been home to Salernitana since it opened in 1990 and while the redevelopment will maintain its current capacity of 35,000, the facility is set for an extensive overhaul.
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