| Stadio Olimpico (pronounced ; English: Olympic Stadium), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after Milan's San Siro. It formerly had a capacity of over 100,000 people, and was also called Stadio dei Centomila (Stadium of the 100,000). It is owned by Sport e Salute, a government agency that manages sports venues, and its operator is the Italian National Olympic Committee.
The Olimpico is located in northwestern Rome in the Foro Italico sports complex. Construction began in 1928 under Enrico Del Debbio and the venue was expanded in 1937 by Luigi Moretti. World War II interrupted further expansions; after the Liberation of Rome in June 1944, the stadium was used by the Allies as vehicle storage and as a location for Anglo-American military competitions. After the war, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), appointed as operator of the venue, completed construction, and it was opened on 17 May 1953 with a football game between Italy and Hungary. Since opening, the stadium has been home to the city's principal professional football clubs, S.S. Lazio and A.S. Roma. It changed its name to Olimpico in 1955, when Rome was awarded responsibility for the 1960 Summer Olympics. Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License - Full article |
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