Palazzo dello Sport

The largest indoor arena for sporting events, concerts and conferences in Rome: designed in 1956 for the 1960 Rome Olympics, the Palazzo dello Sport was conceived by Marcello Piacentini and Pierluigi Nervi and is considered one of the masterpieces of Italian rationalist architecture of the 20th century. The two architects created a circular building in reinforced concrete, with a large dome (95 meters in diameter) over the stepped hall and a continuous front glass “skin” that gives it its typical cylindrical shape. It completes the perspective of via Cristoforo Colombo, representing a scenographic backdrop for the EUR district, and for this reason it is also known as PalaEUR, as well as with the short name of PalaSport. Until 2018 it also had the trade name of PalaLottomatica for the renovation works financed by Lottomatica which led to an expansion of the external area and the construction of a splendid terrace overlooking the EUR lake.

Since the 1960 Olympics, when it was one of the venues for basketball and boxing competitions, the Palazzo dello Sport has hosted numerous sporting events. Between the sixties and seventies, it was the scene of numerous boxing matches between great champions, including Sandro Mazzinghi, Nino Benvenuti and Bruno Arcari but in its long history it has also hosted the final stages of important volleyball competitions, such as the men’s volleyball world and European championships, an edition of the World League and some matches of the women’s volleyball world championship. It is currently the home arena of the professional basketball club Virtus Roma. Thanks to its good acoustic characteristics, even music stars have often chosen it for their concerts: from the Rolling Stones in 1970 to Depeche Mode, the Cure, Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, Carlos Santana, Liam Gallagher and, among the Italian artists, Renato Zero, Francesco De Gregori, Elisa, Eros Ramazzotti, Giorgia and many others.

Photo: Palazzo dello Sport sito ufficiale