Abandoned rugby stadium set to become £380m football ground to hold 50,000 fans

Lazio have submitted plans for a £380million project to redevelop and modernise an old Six Nations stadium.

Rome’s Stadio Flaminio was constructed for the 1960 Olympic Games before later staging football matches.

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More recently, the stadium has been used for Italy rugby matches and became the home venue for Six Nations clashes between 2000 and 2011.

But with Italy having moved their matches to Lazio’s shared Stadio Olimpico, the Stadio Flaminio has laid idle.

Stadium revamp

However, the Serie A side want to resurrect the stadium and have drawn up plans to redevelop the iconic stadium.

The plans have been submitted to the owners, the Municipality of Rome.

The next step is for the municipal offices to analyse and evaluate the plans before the project phase can begin.

The redevelopment will cost £380m as estimated by Lazio president Claudio Lotito’s financial documents.

To support the plans, Lazio are set to take out a £246m loan to be paid over the course of 30 years, with a further £74m financed by the club while another £21m to come from public contributions.

The refurbishment is expected to increase the capacity from 24,973 to 50,000 with an anticipated completion time of three years.

Futuristic features

Should Lazio get the all clear to commence, work on the stadium could start within a few months.

However, there will be no removal of the existing stands at the Flaminio stadium due to it being a listed building.

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Alternatively, the stands will be covered by a steel structure raising the stadium from 17 to 40 meters.

Lazio could also look to install a retractable roof while regenerating the area surrounding the stadium.

A retractable roof could be installed with Lazio also vowing to regenerate the surrounding area.

Rome’s mayor’s office said: “President Lotito and his team showed us the pre-feasibility study for the renovation of the Flaminio stadium project.

“A beautiful project, it will have to be examined in detail, but we are happy that it has been announced that the proposal will be formally launched, thus triggering the administrative procedure.

“Now, we will work to examine it in detail. It seems that Lazio has moved from intentions to will to concrete facts.

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“From here to a few hours we expect that what they presented to us, also with video, will become an official request with all the necessary documentation.”

Lazio currently share the Stadio Olimpico with city Rivals AS Roma in an agreement that has been in place since 1953.