Featured image credit: Sergio D’Afflitto/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
SS Lazio president Claudio Lotito has revealed that the Serie A club will present a project for the redevelopment of Rome’s Stadio Flaminio by early May, as it weighs up the possibility of moving to the former home of Italy’s national rugby union team.
Lazio has long been linked to using a redeveloped Flaminio as its future home, and Lotito revealed in February that the club was carrying out a feasibility study to assess the availability of the stadium.
It came after Lotito confirmed in September that acquiring the stadium was one of the options being considered by the club. More information on the club’s plans for the stadium are now set to be shared in the coming weeks.
“By the end of the month, early May at the latest, we will present the project for the stadium,” Lotito said, according to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. “There have already been meetings with the relevant institutions that can express opinions and I understand that there are no vetoes or problems.”
The Flaminio has a current capacity of 30,000, and Lotito has previously said that if it could only be expanded to 35,000, Lazio would not move forward with any project. Lotito has now said that the feasibility study carried out by the club has found that the redeveloped Flaminio must have a capacity of at least 50,000.
The venue was designed by renowned Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi and was built ahead of the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, initially serving as a football ground before hosting matches played by Italy’s rugby union team from 2000 to 2011. The stadium has been closed since 2011, with the Municipality of Rome, its owner, seeking ways in which to bring it back to life.
The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) has also expressed an interest in redeveloping the stadium. FIR president Marzio Innocenti recently met with the consortium behind the regeneration of Parco Urbano Flaminio, in which the stadium sits, with the two parties sharing a “common desire” to form a joint working group on a project to identify “suitable strategies” to redevelop the stadium.
Lazio currently shares the Stadio Olimpico with cross-city rival AS Roma.
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