It was September 26, 2109 when, in the great hall of the Bovisa Polytechnic, Milan and Inter with the projects of the two studios Populous And Manica-Sportiumasked to choose whether a new facility built on two Rings or a Cathedral should be built in place of the Meazza. Five years ago, which was actually six because the new stadium had been widely talked about for a year already.
Since then, nothing else has been talked about in Milan. Feasibility plans, projects, demolitions, renovations, new areas, forward escapes towards Rozzano and San Donato, reverse steps, second thoughts, declarations of interests until it is established, put in black and white by the Revenue Agency, that the right price is 197 millions. Which is perhaps a negligible detail because those who want to invest in the stadium are interested in the right thing, they are more interested in the areas around it. But that’s it. Tomorrow Giuseppe Sala will report to the Council in a session that promises to be a white-knuckle affair, where the mayor will have to care more about “friends” than “enemies” given that representatives of the majority have filed a resolution that commits the council to “formulate a public tender for the restructuring”.
Then we will return to the discussion. There is a lot of discussion about stadiums in Milan. And one wasn’t enough. Now, rightly asking for space, there is also Alcione, newly promoted to Serie C, which dreams of a facility also suitable for Serie B, to be built on the areas of the Carraro sports center where in reality they are preparing to play at least fifteen amateur clubs including football, rugby and athletics. Who are obviously worried because they feel they are being evicted. Stadiums now remain at the center of thoughts, debates and projects while “minor” sport flounders with the cry of pain of many sports clubs forced to bend over backwards to find facilities and spaces for their young people to train.
There is little talk about this. Almonst never. Yet it is not a detail if we consider the educational role of “minor sport” in the growth, sociality and integration of children. And not just kids. Just to give a few examples, the situation of the swimming pools is critical, starting with Saini, one of the centers most frequented by athletes, Paralympic athletes and swimmers, closed until next summer for renovation. The same goes, even worse, for Lido, Scarioni and Argelati, which are also closed due to management changes and renovations that are more or less ongoing and more or less indefinite.
Another example is the Agora. The ice palace which should, in the country of common sense, be the center of attention with the Winter Olympics upon us, has instead been out of use since 2023. Not only that. A month ago it was damaged by a fire and last week it was occupied by a social center that is fighting against the Olympics in Milan and it was used as a bivouac for a few days. It risks meeting the same fate as the Palasport in 1985, damaged by a snowfall and then demolished. Unless the redevelopment proposal made by the Accademia del Ghiaccio which proposes a 5-6 million restyling is successful. We have to cross our fingers and hope that we start to discuss a little less about stadiums and a little more about grassroots sport. That of the many amateur clubs that live on “heroic” volunteering, forced to raise the white flag because they don’t have facilities or can’t pay the rent.