The Udine city council has given the green light for a redevelopment to Stadio Friuli, the home of Italian Serie A side Udinese.
The upgrade will span a space of 20,000 square metres and will include development for the building of restaurants, a commercial area, a sports centre and swimming pool, a hotel, and a sports museum of Friuli Venezia-Giulia – the region where Udine is situated.
“The Stadio Friuli represents one of the most important assets of our city, a place where sport expresses itself at its highest levels, bringing the image of Udine to an international stage,” said Udine Mayor Alberto Felice De Toni.
“With the Stadio 2.0 project, our city will be increasingly at the forefront by making available to fans and citizens a structure among the most complete in Europe.”
The commercial area is planned to spread across 1,500 square metres and will feature space for clothing shops, technology outlets, pharmacies, and health stores.
Furthermore, the club has mentioned the possibility of creating a music school, areas for concerts and dance shows, and recording rooms near the venue, which is also known as the Bluenergy Stadium for sponsorship reasons.
It states the goal is to transform the stadium into a lively area that will have services available year-round to serve as “a nerve centre for the local community capable of attracting visitors and creating new economic and tourist opportunities.”
“We believe that this green light is an important step that will bring further great benefits to the city of Udine and to the whole of Friuli Venezia-Giulia which, since Udinese built the new stadium, have drawn enormous advantages in terms of attractiveness of the territory given the great international events that we have been able to host thanks to our jewel of a stadium,” said Udinese administrative director Alberto Rigotto.
“Now, finally, once the details have been ironed out, we will be able to complete the project that will make the Bluenergy Stadium a true sustainable hub of services for the community alive 365 days a year”.
The stadium was opened in 1976 and currently boasts a capacity of 25,144 after two renovations in 1990 and a three-year project ending in 2016.
