Viareggio, inauguration of the "new" Stadio dei Pini: from Del Piero to Pecci, a parade of champions
Viareggio (Lucca), 23 September 2025 – On 24 September at 7.30 pm the Stadio dei Pini in Viareggio will officially open, reopening to sport and the city after 7 years .
With just hours to go before the gates open, the names of the key players have been revealed: alongside Mayor Giorgio Del Ghingaro and the city administration, Marcello Lippi, Alessandro Del Piero, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessio Tacchinardi, Ciro Ferrara, Eraldo Pecci, Luciano Chiarugi, Luca Cecconi, Roberto Pruzzo, Luciano Spalletti, Stefano Mei, Vitaliano Bonuccelli, Alberto Reccolani, Massimiliano Maddaloni, Greta Adami, Paolo Fornaciari, Nicola Vizzoni, Claudia Coslovich, Veronica Angeloni, and Alessandro Petacchi will be present. The evening, broadcast live on NoiTv , will feature moments of pure entertainment, thanks to the contributions of top-level artists and performers, and the memories of the guests who, interviewed by Alessandro Bonan, a journalist and well-known face of Sky Sport, will retrace the history of the Viareggio Stadium. There will also be space for Viareggio's sports associations, which, presented by Daniele Maffei, will parade at the opening of the evening, taking up positions along the athletics track, as if encircling the field and reclaiming it. The event's patron, Tuscan champion Veronica Angeloni, will accompany the dignitaries in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The redevelopment project is by architect De Martino, technical director of Sportium, a company specializing in the design of state-of-the-art sports facilities.
The integrated design and construction management for the new Stadio dei Pini in Viareggio were handled by architect De Martino, together with Progetto CMR, an integrated design firm with over 30 years of experience, and STAIN Engineering, an MEP engineering firm, which oversaw the systems design, as well as InFire. Sportium, STAIN Engineering, Progetto CMR, and InFire are four companies under the Progetto CMR International Holding, a leading group in Italy, ranked first in the 2024 Guamari ranking.
"After a history of records—the Stadio dei Pini was the first in Italy to be equipped with a tartan track in 1969—and memorable sporting moments— the world record in the shot put set here by Alessandro Andrei in 1987—on March 31, 2025, it once again took center stage on the national and international sporting scene with the final of the prestigious and historic Viareggio Cup," reads a statement from the group.
The project, the statement continues, is designed to establish a dialogue with the surrounding natural environment, and thanks to the use of carefully selected materials and colors, the structure now blends in with the pine forest landscape. The new facility—the result of a complete redevelopment project, designed with energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in mind, which included the renovation of the entire seating and walkway system—consists of a covered grandstand with changing rooms, an outdoor grandstand, a soccer field, an athletics track, and service buildings. After the athletics track was restored with the installation of a new sports surface and the natural grass soccer field with its irrigation system, the project continued with the renovation of the main grandstand and the creation of a new façade, featuring diamond-shaped geometric motifs inspired by the checkered tracksuit of Burlamacco, the official mask of the Viareggio Carnival . Furthermore, the facade and structure of the main stand have been wrapped in a new skin, composed of diagonal elements and panels with different color tones consistent with the landscape, which gives the building a compositional unity, while the use of anodized aluminum confers flexibility and lightness.
A new grandstand was also designed and built on the east side, replacing the previous one, whose distinctive curved shape retains its original appearance. The resulting structure will be able to seat up to 1,750.
La Nazione
