The San Siro
- Dag Jenkins
- Oct 14
- 3 min read
The San Siro, now also called the Giuseppe Meazza, is an iconic stadium. In Italy they call it "La Scala del Calcio". It is situated in the San Siro area of north-west Milan which also hosts a famous horse racing course. The area takes its name from the old church of San Siro alla Vepra.
It was inaugurated in 1926 and was in "English style". The Milan president at the time was Piero Pirelli and the project of building the stadium was given to Ulisse Stacchini (who had already built the Milan Central Station) and Alberto Cugini.
It had four independent stands and a cover over the grandstand. For the times it was extremely modern. It has since been renovated four times; 1937-39, 1954-55, 1987-90 and 2015-16.
When it opened, only Milan played there. The other Milanese club Inter joined them in 1947.
In 1935 it was bought by the Milan council and two years later underwent its first expansion.
In the mid 1950's the "secondo anello" (second tier) was added and the capacity reached almost 100,000. In 1957 the floodlights were added.
In 1967 the first mega scoreboard was installed.
In 1980 it officially became known as the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. The former Inter and Milan player, who also won two World Cups, died on August 21, 1979.
For Italy '90 World Cup the "terzo anello" and the roof was built although the capacity by now was about 83,000. The roof would cause problems with the growth of the grass for many years to come. In 2012 these problems were finally solved with the help of a percentage of modern synthetic grass and a technological change in the atmospheric conditions inside the ground itself.
The most recent changes were minor and involved the modernisation of the inside of the structure plus the pitch and the dugout area. The capacity is now 76,000, all seating.
The first big international game took place in 1934 when it hosted one of the World Cup semi-finals. In 1980 it saw matches of the European Championship and in 1990 some World Cup games (including the opener). Four European Cup/Champions League finals have been played there and four UEFA Cup finals (due to the host team, Inter 3 times and strangely Juventus once). In 2019-20 Atalanta played their Champions League games there. More recently the Final Four of the Nations League was organised there.
It was built as and is a football stadium but has also been used for big Rugby games, for example Italy versus All Blacks in 2009 when 81,000 spectators attended. In 1960 it also held an important boxing match between Italian Duilio Loi and Puerto Rican Carlos Ortiz. In 2026 it will be used for the opening ceremony of the XXV Olympic Winter Games of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The stadium has also regularly been used, especially in the summer, for big music concerts. Popular Italian artists such as Vasco Rossi and Ligabue plus international stars including Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, U2 and the Rolling Stones have all performed there.
On 30 September 2025, Milan’s City Council approved the sale of the San Siro real estate complex (“GFU San Siro”), which includes the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, to AC Milan and Inter. The amount of the sale is approximately €197 million and the clubs have submitted a joint feasibility plan for building a new stadium & redeveloping the surrounding area.
The Milanese ground is one of the most iconic stadiums in Europe for its size and unique shape and structure. For locals it has been voted the second most important symbol of the town after the Duomo. For football the fact that it has no athletics track (unlike Rome, Naples and many others) has led it to be considered the ideal stadium to enjoy matches. La Scala del Calcio has seen some epic games and witnessed the eternal rivalry between two of Italy's most important clubs, A.C Milan and Internazionale.
It will be sad when it goes.
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