A FORMERLY great football stadium which was home to AS Roma has been left dilapidated decades after it was built.
Campo Testaccio was first built in 1929, only two years after the footy club had been established – but would be left to rot in later years.
The new stadium was state of the art when it was built, with drainage systems for rain and luscious grass.
Capable of holding 20,000 and even having a tunnel for the players to run through, the Roman stadium set the precedent for further footy venues in Italy.
And the construction of the stadium in Rome’s Testaccio district was big for the poor people who lived there.
The construction of a local slaughterhouse brought jobs to the area, and the stadium provided a communal area to meet and a team to support.
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As years went on, however, the club outgrew the formerly large stadium and moved to a nearby venue for games.
The site had been intended to become a public garden but after the start of World War Two, plans shifted.
Underground changing rooms were transformed into air raid shelters, and the surface was used to plant crops.
Until the year 2000, the location was never refaciliated for use – until it was partially rebuilt for local teams.
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But in 2011, the stadium was ultimately demolished – ending local Roman’s hopes of the beloved stadium having a second birth.
Many tried to re purpose the facility in years after, but the vision was never fully restored again – leaving the formerly great stadium to rot and become overgrown with weeds.
In 2019, rumblings of another attempt to rebuild the stadium began spreading in Rome – though they haven’t been confirmed.
Another stadium is currently abandoned after a blunder left the stand facing the wrong way.
The ground located in Kosovo bizarrely has seats not in view of the pitch.
A new stand has been built that looks over an abandoned field with the team’s football pitch behind.
Fans have been left baffled by the stadium, one said: “This is strange.”
Another joked: “I wish Manchester United played there.”
But there is an explanation for the confusion in the stadium located near the towns of Magure and Dobraje.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
