Top 10 Stadiums in Italy
Italian football stadiums are, as a group, older and less modernised than their German, English, or French equivalents. Most are publicly owned and shared between clubs, and the difficulty of renovating or replacing municipally owned grounds has left Italy with several large but ageing venues. The exception — Juventus' privately owned Allianz Stadium in Turin — is the template that other clubs have struggled to replicate. Every stadium below is on the map.
1. San Siro / Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Capacity: 75,923. Shared by AC Milan and Inter Milan, the Meazza (officially named after a 1930s Italian international striker) opened in 1926 and has been expanded and reconstructed twice since. The current three-tier cylindrical structure — characterised by the external helical ramps connecting the tiers — dates from the 1955 and 1990 expansions, the latter for the 1990 World Cup. It is the largest stadium in Italy and has hosted two European Cup finals (1965, 1970) and the 1990 World Cup final. Both clubs have sought to replace it with a new stadium for over a decade, with proposals ongoing. It is Italy's most atmospheric ground on Derby della Madonnina nights.
2. Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Capacity: 70,634. Shared by AS Roma and SS Lazio, the Olimpico was originally built in the 1930s for Mussolini's regime, expanded for the 1960 Rome Olympics, and used for the 1968 European Championship final, 1977 and 1984 European Cup finals, and the 1990 World Cup final. Like San Siro, it is a municipally owned ground shared between two rival clubs, with a running track creating distance between supporters and the pitch. Both Roma and Lazio have explored new stadium options; Roma's project at Pietralata has made the most concrete recent progress.
3. Juventus Stadium / Allianz Stadium, Turin
Capacity: 41,507. Juventus' privately owned home, opened in 2011 on the site of the old Stadio delle Alpi, is Italy's most modern top-division ground and the only one at the top level owned outright by a single club. The tight, enclosed all-seater bowl — no running track — puts supporters close to the pitch and creates a consistently better atmosphere than the large shared grounds elsewhere in Serie A. Juve's run of nine consecutive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020 was won with this ground as the base. Capacity is smaller than San Siro or the Olimpico but the matchday experience is significantly better.
4. Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples
Capacity: 54,726. Napoli's home in Fuorigrotta was renamed in honour of Diego Maradona following his death in November 2020. Maradona played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991, winning two Serie A titles in a period that remains the emotional heart of the club's identity. The ground was built in 1959 and renovated for the 1990 World Cup but has since declined in condition, which has been a source of ongoing friction between Napoli's ownership and the Naples city council. Napoli's 2023 Serie A title — their first since the Maradona era — was celebrated at the renamed ground.
5. Estadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, Verona
Capacity: 39,211. Shared by Hellas Verona and Chievo Verona (with Chievo now dissolved following financial collapse). The Bentegodi was built for the 1990 World Cup and has been Verona's home since. Hellas' return to Serie A and their sustained presence in the top division since 2019 has given the ground regular top-flight use after years in Serie B.
6. Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna
Capacity: approximately 38,279. Bologna FC's home, built in 1927 and expanded for the 1934 World Cup. The Dall'Ara is one of Serie A's oldest active grounds and has been the subject of renovation discussions for years as Bologna's sporting and commercial ambitions have grown. Their 2024-25 Champions League qualification — the first in the club's history — put the ground in European competition for the first time in decades.
7. Stadio Grande Torino (Olimpico Torino)
Capacity: approximately 28,177. Torino FC's home, renamed after the Grande Torino side that died in the Superga air disaster of 1949. The small capacity reflects Torino's standing as a club with great historical prestige — they were Italy's dominant club in the 1940s — and modest current resources. The Superga disaster memorial site above Turin remains one of Italian football's most visited commemorative locations.
8. Dacia Arena (Stadio Friuli), Udine
Capacity: 25,144. Udinese's purpose-built home, renovated and renamed several times, is one of Serie A's better smaller grounds — tight, functional, and with a clear improvement in sightlines over the older style Italian grounds. Udinese's ownership by the Pozzo family (who also own Watford and Granada) means the club consistently punches above its provincial location.
9. Gewiss Stadium (Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia), Bergamo
Capacity: 21,747. Atalanta's home has been significantly upgraded since the club's Europa League and Champions League campaigns began in 2017. The Gewiss Stadium is one of Serie A's tightest and most intimidating venues for visiting teams, despite its relatively modest capacity. Atalanta's 2024 Europa League win under Gian Piero Gasperini was the club's first European trophy in their history.
10. Unipol Domus (Sardegna Arena), Cagliari
Capacity: 16,416 (with upgrades ongoing). Cagliari's purpose-built stadium opened in 2017 on the south side of Cagliari, replacing the old Sant'Elia ground. The enclosed design is among the best in Italian football for its size and creates an atmosphere that belies the capacity figure. Cagliari's island home means away supporters rarely travel in numbers, giving the Unipol Domus a strongly local character.
Italy's stadium problem
The contrast between Italy's quality of football — Serie A remains one of the top five leagues in Europe — and the quality of its stadiums is one of European football's persistent structural issues. Most Italian grounds are publicly owned, making renovation or replacement dependent on municipal politics. The average Italian stadium is over 50 years old. The success of Juventus' Allianz Stadium as a privately owned, club-controlled venue has been universally acknowledged but not replicated, partly because Italian planning law makes new stadium development extremely slow.
New stadium projects under development
Several Italian clubs have active new stadium projects in various stages of planning and approval. Inter Milan and AC Milan have been developing plans for a new stadium to replace San Siro since 2019 — the project, known as La Cattedrale, would be built adjacent to the existing Meazza ground, which would then be demolished. The project has faced repeated planning challenges from those seeking to protect the existing building's heritage value.
AS Roma's project at Pietralata in eastern Rome received planning approval in 2024, the first concrete progress toward a new ground after years of stalled projects at various sites. Fiorentina's renovation of the Artemio Franchi in Florence — a 1931 stadium with listed architectural status — received EU infrastructure funding. The pattern across Italian football is of slow, contested progress toward stadium modernisation rather than the rapid construction cycles seen in England, Germany, and France.
Attending Serie A
Italian grounds require ID for ticketed entry at several clubs and for high-risk fixtures between rival clubs. The Tessera del Tifoso fan card system, which requires registration of personal details against a match ticket, operates at a number of clubs. Away allocations are managed through a centralised Osservatorio Nazionale system that designates certain fixtures as high-risk, restricting or eliminating the away allocation. For visitors from outside Italy, checking the current ticket and ID requirements specific to the match you want to attend is essential. All Italian grounds in this list are on the map.