Стадион «Эннио Тардини» в Парме: История и современность

Sports stadium in Parma, Italy

Stadio Ennio Tardini, commonly referred to as just Il Tardini, is a football stadium in Parma, Italy, located near the centre of Parma, between the town centre and the city walls. It is the home of Parma Calcio 1913. The stadium was built in 1923 and was named after one of Parma's former presidents, Ennio Tardini. The stadium is the nineteenth largest football stadium in Italy and the second largest in Emilia–Romagna with a capacity of 22,352 spectators. The stadium is the sixth oldest Italian football ground still in use. The ground underwent significant expansion under Parmalat's ownership of the resident football club in the 1990s, as the ground's seating capacity was increased from around 13,500 to 29,050. In 2006, the capacity was reduced to 27,906 although only 21,473 are authorised to enter for all seater events and even those seats are very seldom all sold. The expansion has allowed meant a number of Italy matches have been played at the Tardini. Expansion plans were made public in Italy's unsuccessful bid for Euro 2016 and would have made the permanent capacity of the stadium 31,397.

The Tardini was the idea of Ennio Tardini, who was a graduate in Law and club president from 1921 to 1923, but although much of his work was political his passion was sport. In September 1922, Parma's committee admitted two projects for consideration: one by Atanasio Soldati and one by Riccardo Bartolomasi, both architects working in Parma. Soldati's plans looked to architectural simplicity with classical Greek features, while Bartolomasi opted for a more convenient and modern approach. Neither candidate had their work realised. It was architect Ettore Leoni who submitted the final draft for the new stadium, drawing influence from French and German stadia – Lyon's Stade de Gerland in particular – while celebrating the history of Parma. On 26 December 1922, ground was broken on the construction of the stadium and the first stone was laid. The municipal contribution was then raised to £100,000 because of the public nature of the project. Tardini died shortly after, on 16 August 1923, but the stadium – originally to be called Stadio Municipale – would be named in his honour. During the 1970s, the capacity of the stadium stood at approximately 20,000. The stadium originally featured a cycle track that was converted into a clay athletics track in 1935, which was in turn built over at the end of the 1980s. In 2006, the maximum capacity of the stadium was reduced from 29,050 to 27,906, although attendance was capped at 15,645 with the closure of the Curva Nord, the lower part of the Tribuna Est and the reduction in capacity of the main stand by the club for its one season stay in Serie B due to structural problems.

In May 2009, Vicenza supporting away fan Eugenio Bortolon was fatally injured in the Curva Sud on the last day of the season, despite the stadium being in full compliance with all safety regulations. The club was cleared of any wrongdoing in 2012. Shortly after, the stadium's remaining capacity was partially restored so that it could hold just over 20,000. Partly as a result of the partial re opening of sections the stadium, the club has spent €3.5m on improvements to the ground since Tommaso Ghirardi's arrival as club president in 2007. This includes the summer of 2010 spend of €830,000 on the renovation. The Tribuna Est was re roofed, access was improved with the installation of readers for Parma card holders, a giant screen was installed, improvements were made to drainage, media boxes in the Tribuna Centrale Petitot were built and investment in a new hospitality facilities were made. The stadium was part of Italy's unsuccessful bid for the right to host Euro 2016 and plans to increase the capacity to 31,397 (30,225 for the tournament) and roof the corners and ends of the stadium were submitted as part of the bid. It would have hosted matches in the group stage and a round of 16 match and the cost of the renovation would have been €40 million had Italy been selected to host the tournament and Parma been chosen as one of the nine host cities, whittled down from the twelve nominated. UEFA praised Parma's ground transport links as "above the benchmark", despite this being perceived as a weakness of the stadium by the club owners, but airport links were criticised as the only airport stadium link was to be by bus, although the assessment of Parma Airport itself was "slightly above the benchmark".

In early 2012, then club president Tommaso Ghirardi noted that the club's two postponed home matches in that period would have gone ahead if all the stands were under cover and that the covering of the curve should become reality. The club could also choose to move to a new stadium, although this would go against Ghirardi's public pronouncements. In November 2012, Leonardi said he wanted "to put an end to the situation where our people, in 2012, have to follow the match in the rain" by adding a roof to uncovered parts of the stadium (i. e. the Curva Sud and the Curva Nord). There are also rumours of a much more expensive €200 million reconstruction on the current stadium's site encompassing a shopping centre, car park, gym and multiplex cinema, rather than a move to the north of the city in Moletolo or Baganzola as sometimes mooted. This would likely require a temporary move away from Parma (probably to the Stadio Mario Rigamonti in Brescia), but any substantial work on the Tardini would require significant external investment. Rather than renovate the Tardini, the club's leadership has instead opted to make improvements to its wholly owned training centre in Collecchio, completed in late 2012. Municipal support for any work seems especially unlikely after Federico Pizzarotti, elected sindaco of Parma in May 2012, ruled the use of public money out in November 2012. The state of stadium ownership in Italy, where only Juventus owns its own stadium, is widely regarded as unsatisfactory. The stadium falls short of UEFA competition standards and therefore would not be allowed to host UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League matches. The reason for this is the inadequacy of this stadium's facilities. For example, the seats' backrests, which must be at least 30 cm high are below the requirement by 15 cm in some areas of the ground. Such an improvement would require an investment of at least €1,500,000. As well install new seating, the dressing rooms, medical facilities and west stand would require renovation. The cost of these measures means the likely host of any European fixtures played by the club would be Modena F. C.'s Stadio Alberto Braglia.

The Italy national team does not have a national stadium and many different venues are used by its teams at all levels. One of these venues is the Stadio Ennio Tardini, although it cannot currently be used for competitive games due to the inadequacy of the seating. This led to the moving of the Italy Estonia match to the Stadio Alberto Braglia in Modena, which took place on 3 June 2011. In September 2020, Moldova's UEFA Nations League game against Kosovo was held at the stadium as Moldova does not recognise Kosovo.

Rugby Parma F. C. were residents at the Tardini in their early days, including their peak in the 1950s, but the club then moved to the Stadio Fratelli Cervi in the next decade. In the late 2000s, the increasing popularity of rugby union in Italy meant that current ground Stadio Flaminio was becoming less viable as a home ground for Italy and the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa and the Tardini were suggested as alternative grounds as they are in Northern Italy where rugby is more popular. For the 2012 Six Nations Championship, the Stadio Olimpico, also in Rome, was used. The Tardini also hosted the deciding game of Italy's American football competition on 8 July 1989 in the Italian Football League's Italiano IX. The game pitched Seamen Milano against Frogs Legnano against each other and Frogs Legnano won 39–33. On 21 December 2012, the Tardini was chosen as the neutral venue to host the Serie A match between Cagliari and Juventus due to the unavailability of the former's home stadium, the Stadio Is Arenas.

The stadium is in a central location in the city of Parma and is a 30 minute walk along Viale Mentana, then Viale S. Michele before a left at the roundabout onto Viale Partigiani d'Italia. from Parma railway station, which is at the northern edge of the city centre. Alternatively, Buses 8 or 9 can both be taken from the train station to the stadium. A bus service also serves those making use of the A1 parking area outside the city. A direct drive to the stadium involves an exit on the A1 at the Parma junction. UEFA stated that Parma's transport sector was more than capable of supporting UEFA Euro 2016 matches.