STADIA: STADIO RENATO DALL 'ARA, BOLOGNA

Like Turin, Bologna is loaded with porticoes. Unlike Turin, Bolognese architecture is traditionally Italian Gothic and medieval, as opposed to Baroque. It is the older city, or appears to be. Bologna's stadium is also older than Torino's, but not by much – just six years. Looking at it, you'd think at least 60. This disparity is all the more striking when one considers that both grounds were part of the same initiative. Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino began life as the Stadio Municipale Benito Mussolini, while the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara was originally known as Stadio Littoriale – ‘Littoriali’ being the name of the annual events organised by the Partito Nazionale Fascista to celebrate itself. Yet one is built in the International Style, and was thus architecturally contemporary, whereas the other is neoclassical, looking to the past.

The discrepancy is in part explained by the projects' respective architects. The stadium in Turin was designed by Raffaello Fagnoni (also responsible for Stadio Porta Elisa in Lucca) who was loosely connected with Italian Rationalism. Stadio Littoriale's architect, Giulio Ulisse Arata – working under the direction of Umberto Costanzini – is harder to pin down. Mannerism, Eclecticism, Neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau have all been used to describe his work, but none of these really apply here. The greater consideration may well have been born of the city itself, the preponderance of red brick, the site of the stadium, and its connection – physically, literally – to the Portico di San Luca.

On Bologna's formation in 1909, they went about their business at Prati di Caprara, which was little more than a field, or parade ground, rented off the local military. After a couple of years the club relocated to Cesoia outside Porta San Vitale, which offered more in the way of amenity: changing rooms, a fence demarcating the perimeter, fixed goalposts. By 1913 Bologna were playing at Stadio Sterlino, outside Porta Santo Stefano, which had a sloping pitch but was otherwise well appointed – more fencing, an open terrace, a covered grandstand.

Bologna moved to their current home in 1927. The ground was actually part of a much broader scheme instigated by Bologna’s mayor, Leandro Arpinati, who also happened to be the president of the Italian Football Federation, vice-secretary general of the National Fascist Party, a citizen of Bologna and a supporter of its team. As well as including the obligatory athletics’ track, tennis courts and swimming pools (one outdoor, one indoor) were constructed to the rear of the tribuna. The six-storey Marathon Tower was added in 1929, overlooking the terrace opposite, serving as a platform from which Mussolini could spew Fascist propaganda. Both sides were straight, the ends semi-circular – conventional and inexpensive.

Perhaps the most significant feature was a pre-existing one: the assimilation of the Portico di San Luca along the stadium’s eastern perimeter, beneath the Marathon Tower, running south and upwards towards the Santuario Madonna di San Luca. The façade of the ground itself was comprised of a series of arched windows and doors on two levels, mirroring the arches of the portico and finished in the same terracotta brick. I say ‘finished’ because the external brickwork was not structural; reinforced concrete lay behind it.

The stadium was deemed a success. Architecturally it was an anachronism. The aforementioned Stadio Municipale Benito Mussolini in Turin, Fiorentina’s Stadio Giovanni Berta, even Napoli’s Stadio Partenopeo, all had cantilevered roofs. Stadio Littoriale's was flat and propped up by twelve posts. Where Raffaello Fagnon and Pier Luigi Nervi's structural endeavours were left on show, Costanzini's were hidden away. Of all the grounds selected for the 1934 World Cup, only the Stadio Nazionale PNF in Rome was stylistically comparable, and that dated back to 1911.
 

Renamed Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in 1983 (in memory of the club’s longest serving and most successful president) the ground underwent very little in the way of change until it was chosen as a venue for the 1990 World Cup. In fact, plans to modernise the ground had been tentatively drawn up as early as 1984 and would form the basis for its subsequent overhaul.

Overhaul is the right word. As with the Bentegodi in Verona and the Artemio Franchi in Florence, the standing structure of the Dall’Ara remained pretty much intact. An increased, all-seated capacity was achieved by adding three rows at the bottom, where the parterre sat, and twelve at the top. The question was simply how to support those extra twelve rows without obfuscating what it was that defined the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara: the neo-classical façade and the colour of the bricks that comprised it.

The solution was both ingenious and brave. An exposed steel framework, incorporating 120 columns, was aligned with the pre-existing pilasters. That the external brickwork was partially obscured is undeniable, but the colour of the steel supports – somewhere between teal and turquoise – complements the terracotta masonry rather than overwhelms it. As do the yellow railings and the raw concrete of the extended terrace. The effect is that of a Victorian-era train station turned inside out.

The steel roof is a continuation of the exoskeleton, but more refined. It is a cantilevered structure reaching backwards 5 metres from the rear of the tribuna and seems to float above it. Laterally, it covers more ground than the previous canopy, following the curve of the terrace before stopping abruptly, as if satisfied that more than enough protection has been afforded to the spectators below. Finally the tower, which was built around and scrubbed up – the extended terrace drops down as it gets closer to it – and yellow seating installed throughout.

Not much has changed since, save for new seating – red and blue, placed randomly – and improved corporate facilities within the tribuna.

In 2016 Bologna Football Club began the process of redeveloping the Renato Dall'Ara. By 2019 they had a plan. Should it ever get off the drawing board, this will involve demolishing everything other than the original brickwork, which includes the tower, removing the running track and putting a roof over the whole thing. Capacity will be reduced, from something like 36,000 to around 30,000. The whole scheme is more than likely contingent on the ground’s selection as venue for the 2032 European Football Championship.

         Is the venture worth pursuing regardless? Probably. Despite its architectural interest, Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is at the very least in need of a heavy paint job. But that won’t solve the problem of the weather. The climate of Bologna is not that of Palermo (whose stadium is similar), and those northern Italian winters can be a real drag.

THE SARTORIAL ELEGANCE OF SERIE A: BOLOGNA FC, 1988-91 [UHLSPORT]

Bologna Football Club was founded in 1909 and from the start played in red and blue. The reason for this is fortuitous and involves an Austro-Hungarian by the name of Emilio Arnstein and Italian called Arrigo Gradi. Arnstein was born in Votice, in what is now the Czech Republic, and studied in Prague and Vienna before moving to Trieste, where he formed Black Star Football Club along with his brother and a handful of English ex-pats. In 1908 he moved to Bologna and immediately set about finding the local football club. Legend has that a taxi took him straight to Prati di Caprara, a military training facility hired out to any local teams that needed it. There Arnstein met Gradi, wearing the red and blue halved shirt of the college he had previously attended in Switzerland.

Gradi, along with his brothers, a Swiss dentist by the name of Louis Rauch, and a number of students from the local Spanish College (including Antonio Bernabéu, brother of Santiago, who would later play for and preside over Real Madrid) had set up a team of sorts by the name of Felsineo. It was Armstein who provided the impetus to establish a proper club, and in 1909 a patron was found willing to support the venture in the shape of Carlo Sandoni, president of the Circolo Turistico Bolognese. Louis Rauch was subsequently appointed as president, Emilio Arnstein was named as a director and Arrigo Gradi club captain.

By 1910 Bologna Football Club was no longer under Sandoni’s patronage and Arnstein was president. The jersey they'd initially come up with was modelled on the one Gradi had been wearing on that fateful day in 1908. Perhaps in an attempt to define their own image – or to differentiate themselves from the Genoa Cricket & Football Club –  the shirts were now modified to form vertical stripes of the same colour, which is the template the club uses to this day.

There has been an exception: in 1925, the year Bologna won their first scudetto, they played in green at the behest of their then manager Enrico Sabattini, in tribute to the Austrian club Rapid Vienna. You could imagine a precedent such as that sticking, but Bologna soon reverted to their traditional colours and over the course of the next 16 years added another five championships to their palmarès. In fact, for a while Bologna – alongside Juventus – were considered the preeminent force in Italian football, and with seven championships to their name are historically the sixth most successful team to play in Serie A.

Bologna were last crowned champions in 1964, were runners up in ’66 and finished third in ’67. In the early 1970s came two Coppa Italia victories. In 1982 Bologna were relegated for the first time in the club's history, and within a year found themselves playing in Serie C1. Bologna won promotion straight back into Serie B, but struggled. Luigi Corioni assumed the club’s presidency in 1985 and in ‘87 brought in a young manager called Luigi Maifredi, who he’d worked with previously while at Ospitaletto. The appointment paid immediate dividends with Bologna finishing the season in first place.
 

1970-71 [Courtesy Bologna FC 1909.]

From 1982 though to 1988, Bologna’s kit was made by Ennerre/NR. For their return to Serie A, Uhlsport became the club's technical supplier. Whereas Ennere had utilised four broad-gauge stripes, Uhlsport opted for five with a dark blue one down the middle. (Bologna may be known as the Rossoblù, but the blue is more often than not navy blue.) The shirt was V-necked, fitted with a collar, and was sponsored by Italian coffee roaster Segafredo Zanetti. Shorts and socks were also blue. Whereas Ennerre’s shirts had been made from their trademark heavyweight fabric Lanetta, Uhlsport’s were polyester. Bologna ended their first season back in Serie A in 14th place.

The next year, against the backdrop of a stadium that was being renovated ahead of the 1990 World Cup, Bologna fared better. Having added the Brazilian midfielder Geovani Silva, German striker Herbert Waas, Hungarian defender Nikolaj Iliev and ex-Juventus and San Marino midfielder Massimo Bonini to their ranks, Bologna finished the season in a very respectable 8th place – high enough to gain entry into next year's UEFA Cup. The shirts in which they achieved this feat were identical to those they'd worn the season before, save for the sponsor's name printed upon them: Mercatone Uno in place Segafredo Zanetti. Away from home, the previous all-white strip was embellished to include a blue and red horizontal stripe flicking diagonally upward towards the left shoulder, which made it more interesting.

Bologna’s success came at a price, attracting the attention of Juventus who promptly installed Luigi Maifredi as Dino Zoff’s successor. In 1991 Bologna were relegated, wearing the same shirt, although not before making it to the quarter finals of both the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup, losing out to Napoli and Sporting Lisbon respectively.

Uhlsport stood by Bologna but Mercatone Uno didn’t. The electronics manufacturer Sinudyne  took over as the club’s sponsor, whose typeface wasn’t nearly as eye-catching as Segafredo’s or Mercatone’s. Perhaps for this reason Uhlsport employed micropatterning, and also came up with their best away shirt yet: white as before, but with alternating dark blue and red inverted triangles running down the side of sleeves, and ascending from right to left under the sponsor’s name.
 

1989-91

Things didn’t work out. Luigi Maifredi was re-instated as coach after his unsuccessful stint at Juventus, but could only secure 13th place. He then left again ten games into the next season to join Genoa, Bologna were relegated to Serie C, and bankruptcy followed. The club quickly re-registered as Bologna Football Club 1909 and clawed their way back to Serie A, where they’ve been playing since 2015.