Stadio Renzo Barbera (commonly known as La Favorita) is a football stadium in Palermo, Italy. It is currently the home stadium of Palermo F.C. team. The stadium was inaugurated during the fascist era on 24 January 1932, and was originally named Stadio Littorio after the Italian word for the fasces symbol. The opening match was Palermo vs Atalanta, with Palermo winning 5–1. A running track surrounded the pitch and there were no stands behind either goal. In 1936, the stadium was renamed Stadio Michele Marrone, in memory of a soldier killed during the Spanish Civil War. In 1945, the name was changed again at the end of World War II to Stadio La Favorita, taken from the name of the local ancient game preserve of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in the 13th century.
La Favorita | |
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| Full name | Stadio comunale Renzo Barbera |
|---|---|
| Former names | Stadio Littorio (1932–1936) Stadio Michele Marrone (1936–1945) Stadio La Favorita (1945–2002) |
| Location | Palermo, Italy |
| Owner | Municipality of Palermo |
| Capacity | 36,365[1] |
| Field size | 105 x 68 m |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 24 January 1932[1] |
| Renovated | 1989 |
| Tenants | |
| Palermo F.C. (1932–present) Italy national football team (selected matches) | |
In 1948, the running track was removed and stands behind each goal were built. The stadium then remained largely unchanged until 1984, when the second main redevelopment took place involving the addition of a second tier to the stadium, which increased total capacity to 50,000 spectators. This maximum capacity was, however, only reached twice: in a Serie C1 league match against Sicilian rivals Messina, and for a friendly match against Juventus. A third, and to date the most recent, modernisation of the stadium took place in 1990, due to city of Palermo having been chosen to host a number of the 1990 FIFA World Cup First Round matches. A tragic accident occurred during the course of these works, resulting in the deaths of five construction workers.[2] Following this redevelopment, the total capacity of the stadium was lowered to its current 37,619 seats.
On 18 September 2002 the stadium was officially renamed as Stadio Comunale Renzo Barbera, in honour of the chairman of Palermo during the club's last Serie A tenure, as well as the two Coppa Italia finals throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, who had died that same year on 19 May.[3][4] In the Serie A 2004–05 campaign, which marked Palermo's first appearance in the top division for over 30 years, all seats in the stadium were already sold before the season began to season-ticket holders. However, this was not repeated in the next years.
Transport
editThe stadium is linked to the city center and the central railway station by regular bus route 101.
1990 FIFA World Cup
editThe stadium was one of the venues of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and staged the following matches:
| Date | Team #1 | Res. | Team #2 | Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 1990 |  Netherlands |
1–1 |  Egypt |
Group F |
| 17 June 1990 |  Republic of Ireland |
0–0 | ||
| 21 June 1990 | 1–1 | Netherlands
|
Concerts
editThe stadium was frequently used as a music concert venue during the 1980s. Starting in the 1990s, however, concerts and other cultural events were gradually banned from the stadium due to fears they could damage the grass on the field. The Renzo Barbera Stadium is currently the only stadium in Italy where concerts are prohibited. From the early 1990s, large open air concerts in Palermo were held at the Velodromo Paolo Borsellino instead.
Below is a list of artists who have performed at the Renzo Barbera Stadium in the past.
| Date | Band/Artist | Tour | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17, 18, 19 July 1970[5] | Aretha Franklin; Duke Ellington; Johnny Halliday; Arthur Brown; Little Tony; Rosa Balistreri; Ricchi e Poveri; and others | Palermo Pop Festival 70 | Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones were announced as headliners, but both bands cancelled their appearances.
Arthur Brown was arrested after an impromptu striptease on stage. He was released on the premise that he would never return to Sicily again. |
| 5, 6, 7 September 1971 | Black Sabbath; Manfred Mann's Earth Band; The Pretty Things; and others | Palermo Pop Festival 71 | |
| 17 July 1980 | Antonello Venditti | Buona Domenica Tour | |
| 14 July 1982 | Frank Zappa | 1982 European Tour | A riot occurred during "Cocaine Decisions" in which the police fired tear-gas into the crowd.[6]
Zappa was reported as stating "We played for an hour and a half with tear-gas in our face and everything else, and when it was all over we went off stage and we were trapped inside this place. It wasn't a lot of fun". The riot inspired the back cover of the album The Man From Utopia. |
| 21 July 1982 | Claudio Baglioni | Alè-oò Tour | |
| 22 August 1985 | Vasco Rossi | Cosa succede in città Tour | |
| 5 to 11 July 1986[7] | Miles Davis; Herbie Hancock with Branford Marsalis; Pat Metheny Trio; Wayne Shorter Quartet; and others | Jazz Estate '86: Fusion Time Festival | The festival was held over a period of one week.
Due to concerns over the grass, the playing field remained off-limits for the audience. The stage was set up in front of the southern tribune stands. Attendance averaged 10,000 patrons per day. |
| 28 May 1987 | Duran Duran | The Strange Behaviour Tour | |
| 13 June 1987 | Frank Sinatra | Italian Tour | |
| 4 August 1987 | Spandau Ballet | Through the Barricades Tour | |
| 11 August 1987 | Antonello Venditti | Venditti e segreti Tour | |
| 27 August 1992 | Antonello Venditti | Alta marea Tour | |
| 10 June 1994 | Pino Daniele, Eros Ramazzotti & Jovanotti | Pino, Jova, Eros in concerto | |
| 29 September 1994 | Adriano Celentano | European Tour | Cancelled due to US Palermo's concerns about possible damage to the grass on the playing field.
The concert was scheduled to take place only 4 days before a match. |
| 28 September 1995 | Antonello Venditti | Ogni volta Tour | |
| 1 July 1997 | Zucchero | The Best Of Tour | |
| 13 August 1998 | Claudio Baglioni | Da me a te Tour | The concert was promoted as an anti-mafia event in the press[8] and attracted around 41,000 fans, grossing 2 billion Italian lira (US$1.2 million), becoming the highest grossing non-sporting event at the stadium. |
| 12 July 2003 | Claudio Baglioni | Tutto in un abbraccio Tour | Cancelled due to restructuring works on the field. |
| 22, 23 June 2023 | Vasco Rossi | Vasco Live 2023 |
References
edit- ^ a b "Stadio" (in Italian). U.S. Città di Palermo. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ "Stadio Renzo Barbera, 29 anni fa il crollo in cui morirono 5 operai – Cronaca – TGR Sicilia". Rainews.it. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ "Addio a Barbera presidente della A" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
- ^ "Zeman, la domenica del dolore l' addio a Vyckpalec e Barbera" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
- ^ Italian article and photographs of the Palermo Pop Festival '70
- ^ Watson, Ben (1994). Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. Quartet. ISBN 978-0-7043-7066-1.
- ^ Italian article about Miles Davis' performance at the stadium
- ^ "Archivio Corriere della Sera".
