The die is cast – San Siro cannot be torn down

Article posted by Coliseum, August 15^th, 2023

Image: San Siro, Дмитрий Кошелев, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Serie A clubs A.C. Milan and Inter Milan will not be able to demolish their home ground – the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy – and build a new stadium together on the land after a new measure was taken to protect part of the structure.

‘sempremilan’ stated that an announcement in this regard was made recently by the Lombardy Regional Commission for Cultural Heritage which confirmed that the second ring of the stadium was being placed under an anti-demolition restriction by the Superintendency.

This is because the second ring is turning 70 years old, achieving a status where it is protected by the law and cannot be demolished after 2025 and plans were being initiated to demolish the San Siro Stadium after 2026 as the venue will be deployed for the 2026 Winter Olympics to be held in Italy.

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The A.C. Milan or simply Milan is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980-1981 and 1982-1983 seasons, in the top flight of Italian football, known as Serie A since 1929-1930.

Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy (Italy). Inter is the only Italian side to have always competed in the top flight of Italian football – Serie A – since its debut in 1909.

The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in Europe, and the largest in Italy.

There is no end to the San Siro Stadium (Milan, Italy) saga. But now with the above development, the die is cast – the San Siro cannot be demolished.

The plan was that the famed San Siro Stadium will be demolished entirely shortly after the 2026 Winter Olympics under new plans put forward by A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. The stadium is due to host the Olympic Opening Ceremony in 2026, after which it were being planned to be knocked down and a new arena coming up on the adjacent site.

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games and also known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multisport event scheduled to take place from February 6^th-22^nd, 2026. The event will have the Italian Cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo as the main Host Cities.

On June 24^th, 2019 A.C. Milan and Inter Milan announced their intention to build a new stadium to replace the San Siro. The new 60,000-capacity stadium, which was planned to be constructed next to the San Siro, was anticipated to cost US$800 million and was earlier expected to be ready for the 2022-2023 seasons.

In December 2021, the top-notch clubs announced that the celebrated design studio Populous’ project – ‘The Cathedral’ – was being selected for their new stadium.

‘The Cathedral’ was being planned as a celebration of the artistic and cultural heritage of Milan (Italy). Its design was inspired by two of the most famous buildings in the City – the Duomo di Milano and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele – and would have resulted in a unique stadium that would have stood out from any other sporting arena in the world and would have served as the home venue of Italy’s top-rung clubs – A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. However, the top-flights’ ‘The Cathedral’ dreams too is shrouded in uncertainty.

‘sempremilan’ further stated that it had become clear among all of the bureaucratic stoppages that Milan and Inter will not be able to carry out their original plan any time soon, but they will both now need to commit to building their own stadiums away from San Siro.

As things stand, it is most likely that Inter will head to Rozzano and Milan will head to San Donato.

Earlier, it was reported that the A.C. Milan have officially kicked off the process for building a standalone home venue of their own in the San Francesco area of San Donato in Milan, Italy. And the Inter Milan has acquired the exclusive rights for a feasibility study to build a new stadium in Rozzano, a suburb of Milan, Italy.

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