Verona to pursue redevelopment of Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi

The Municipality of Verona has set out plans for a complete redevelopment of Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi in order to secure its place as a venue for Italy’s co-hosting of UEFA Euro 2032, with a roof structure proposed that will allow the stadium to host concerts and other events year-round.

The vision set out yesterday (Tuesday) overrides a previous project, approved by the City Council back in December 2019, that would have seen the Bentegodi replaced by a new stadium located elsewhere in Verona.

Owned by the Municipality, the Bentegodi is the current home of Serie A club Hellas Verona. It first opened in 1963, but has received no major improvement work since a project carried out before it hosted games during Italy’s staging of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

In October, UEFA confirmed that Euro 2032 will be hosted jointly by Italy and Turkey after the two nations abandoned their individual bids earlier in the year. Verona was included as one of 10 candidate host cities through a plan drawn up by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in April 2023.

The Municipality said yesterday that the new project is “completely different” from the one that came previously, with the redevelopment of the Bentegodi linked to the wider regeneration of the local neighbourhood, aiming to make the stadium a multi-purpose, contemporary structure capable of hosting not only sporting events, providing Verona with a “reference structure” for the entire northeast of Italy.

With the Bentegodi currently not at a standard to host major international matches or tournaments, Mayor Damiano Tommasi underlined how “the opportunity offered by Verona’s candidacy for Euro 2032 is the long-awaited occasion to redevelop the city stadium”.

He continued: “We are competing with nine other cities for the candidacy to host Euro 2032, a goal that can only be achieved with the redevelopment of the Stadio Bentegodi. The intention is to raise the stadium to a European standard from a footballing point of view but also to seize this opportunity to give Verona infrastructure that is currently lacking, capable of hosting concerts and large-scale events even in unfavourable weather conditions, equipped with the technology that allows the football pitch to be replaced without damaging it.

“All this will be done with respect for the (local) neighbourhood, which will be able to take advantage of new services such as gyms and student accommodation that can also accommodate athletes who otherwise cannot find accommodation in the city.

“We believe that rebuilding the structure on site is an opportunity to enhance the neighbourhood, and are confident that this project could be of interest to financiers, builders and future managers of the new facility.”

The Municipality is seeking out expressions of interest in drawing up such a project which will need to include certain key aspects. Its vision is for a multifunctional stadium with the capability of closing off the top tier and including a retractable pitch.

In addition to staging football games, this will allow the new Bentegodi to host other sporting and cultural events throughout the year, which the Municipality believes will generate the revenue needed to help pay off the cost of the development, in addition to strengthening public support.

A stadium with a capacity of approximately 30,000 is being envisioned, “a cutting-edge structure in terms of architecture and design, built in compliance with the most modern criteria of environmental sustainability and measures for the containment of light pollution, with the highest standards of passive acoustic requirements”.

The structure must also include meeting spaces for socio-cultural and associative use for the benefit of the surrounding neighbourhood, as well as a space used as a guesthouse/student accommodation, especially for athletes.

The Municipality added: “The possibility of guaranteeing the realisation of events regardless of weather conditions, with a capacity of approximately 30,000 spectators, will also be able to respond to the need to relieve the Arena di Verona from the mass holding of concerts and at the same time will be able to guarantee the possibility of hosting winter tours of concerts or other events, which to date do not pass through the northeast area as there is no suitable structure to host them.”

The Municipality stated that the construction of a temporary stadium is also being planned in case construction work at the Bentegodi prevents Hellas Verona from playing games there.