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Rome reopens Palazzetto dello Sport after five years

Landmark sports facility to host volleyball and basketball once again.

Rome will reopen the Palazzetto dello Sport indoor arena in the Flaminio district on Sunday following extensive renovation works and a closure of five years.

Built for the 1960 Olympics, the iconic sporting facility has been unused since 2018 when it closed for repairs. It was subsequently abandoned, suffering damage from neglect and vandals.

The newly-restored Palazzetto dello Sport will come back to life this weekend, however, when it hosts the 2023-24 seasons of the Roma Volley Club and AS Luiss basketball teams.

The works carried out on the structure, whose landmark dome was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, started during the adminstration of former mayor Virginia Raggi and finished under incumbent Roberto Gualtieri.

Rome tourism and sport councillor Alessandro Onorato, who presented the refurbished facility on Tuesday, told reporters that the city "inherited" a €3 million renovation contract with an expiry date of March 2022.

"We realised that the works would never be finished in time and that the money allocated was not enough", Onorato told news outlet RomaToday, with the city raising additional funds of €2 million to see the project through.

When it opens on Sunday, the Palazzetto will have 2,500 seats available for specators, rising to its full capacity of 3,500 seats when works finish definitively in December.

Onorato told newspaper Corriere della Sera that the city would now shift its focus to other unfinished projects, starting with the nearby Flaminio Stadium.

Palazzetto dello Sport opened for 1960 Olympics

 

A brief history of the Palazzetto dello Sport

 

Inaugurated in 1957, the arena was designed by architect Annibale Vitellozzi while its innovative reinforced concrete dome was designed by engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi.

 

During the 1960 Olympic Games the venue hosted several sports, notably basketball, and in subsequent decades it hosted volleyball matches.

Given its location near Viale Tiziano near the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the structure is known to Romans as PalaTiziano.

Nervi (1891-1979) is best remembered for major projects such as Stadio Berta in Florence, known today as Stadio Artemio Franchi, and the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall.

 

Vitellozzi designed the modern-day façade of Rome's Termini Station and was among the team of architects who oversaw the completion of the city's Olympic Stadium in 1953.

Photo Corriere dello Sport

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Address Piazza Apollodoro, 10, 00196 Roma RM, Italy

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Rome reopens Palazzetto dello Sport after five years

Piazza Apollodoro, 10, 00196 Roma RM, Italy

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