Stadio San Nicola (Bari)

The Stadio San Nicola (English: Saint Nicholas Stadium) is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by Renzo Piano in Bari, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of F.C. Bari 1908. The stadium itself resembles a ‘flower’. To create this particular design, the stadium consists of 26 ‘petals’ and upper tiers of the higher ring which are separated by 8-metre empty spaces, sufficient to guarantee satisfactory security conditions.

General information

Arena capacity: 58,270 spectators

Address: Strada Torrebella, 70124 Bari BA, Italy

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 41.0847° N, 16.8401° E

Year of construction: 1990

Field: grass lawn with dimensions of 105 by 68 m (344 by 223 ft)

Seating plan of Stadio San Nicola

When choosing a place in the stadium, use the following Stadio San Nicola scheme.

Where to buy tickets?

Tickets for Bari matches can be bought online through Vivaticket (print-at-home), at the ticket windows of gate 22 at the stadium, or at one of the Vivaticket sales outlets. Tickets tend not to be on sale at the stadium right before the match.

Tickets range in price from €10.00 for one of the curves to between €15.00 and €50.00 for a seat at one of the sides.

How to get there?

Stadio San Nicola is located on the southern edge of the city of Bari, almost 8 kilometres from Bari’s historic centre and 5.5 kilometres from Bari’s central railway station.

The stadium lies just south of the Tangenziale di Bari, the city’s ring road. Take exit 10B. The stadium is signposted coming from the west.

Stadio San Nicola is rather difficult to reach by public transport. The best option is likely to take bus 20 from the central rail station. The bus passes close to the stadium, however line 20 only has a dedicated stop at the stadium on the way back. Hence, one could make the turn at the last stop (Autostrada BA-TA), or change to a return bus slightly earlier at Parco Adria. The whole trip will take you about 50 minutes.

Hotels near Stadio San Nicola

The Nicolaus Hotel

Book a room at The Nicolaus Hotel and you’ll be right in Municipio 2 within 3 miles of popular sights like Norman-Hohenstaufen Castle and Bari Cathedral. This business-friendly hotel is also close to Bari Harbor and Anthea Hospital.

At the end of a busy day, return to one of the 174 inviting rooms, all of which come with minibars, room service and Select Comfort beds. Don’t miss the premium bedding, rainfall shower and soaking tub.

Guests staying at this hotel can enjoy a rooftop terrace, free bike rentals and an indoor pool. Dine onsite at The Seasons, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition, you’ll find a garden, a fitness center and a gift shop/newsstand.

Hi Hotel Bari

Book a room at Hi Hotel Bari and you’ll be right in Municipio 2 within 3 miles of popular sights like Norman-Hohenstaufen Castle and Bari Cathedral. This luxury hotel is also convenient to Bari Harbor and Anthea Hospital.

Step into one of the 88 inviting rooms and take advantage of minibars, room service and premium bedding. You’ll also appreciate the down comforter, free bottled water and coffee maker.

This hotel offers spa services, free bike rentals and an outdoor pool. Sip a drink while dining at Basilico Restaurant, which serves Italian cuisine and is open for breakfast and dinner. A garden, a 24-hour fitness center and a steam room are other features.

Tanzi Home

Book a room at Tanzi Home and you’ll be right in Municipio 2 within 3 miles of popular sights like Norman-Hohenstaufen Castle and Bari Harbor. Also convenient to this smoke-free guest house are Bari Cathedral and Anthea Hospital.

Unwind in one of the 3 rooms, where you can take advantage of minibars, free toiletries and hair dryers.

Design

All spectators are seated, and no seat has an obscured view. The stadium accommodates a football pitch, an eight-lane athletics track and seating for 58,000 people. The track was a late addition, following a request by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). There is no provision for standing spectators, in accordance with governing body FIFA’s current regulations.

The plan form was determined by considering the distance any individual spectator would be from the action. For football, 190m was considered the maximum distance desirable, so arcs of 190m radius were drawn from the corners of the pitch to set the outer boundary of the seating. The stadium is elliptical in plan, symmetrical about both axes.

Constructed by excavating into an artificial mound, the arena’s playing surface is 2m below natural ground level. It is surrounded by two rings of concrete tiers, which are sheltered by a tension membrane roof supported on curved steel cantilevered ribs. The principal architect, Renzo Piano (b.1937), envisaged the upper tier floating spaceship-like over the manmade crater of the arena and its lower tier. The detailed design of the foundations and concrete work was undertaken by engineer Studio Vitone e Associati, and Arups took responsibility for the roof, led by Peter Rice.

A narrow dry ‘moat’ runs around the playing area, separating it from the seating as a security measure. Behind this, the lower tier rises at a constant angle and circles the stadium. Its concrete substructure houses restrooms, ticket offices, information points, concessions, player facilities, machine rooms and emergency exits, and an access roadway that rings the stadium out of sight. On the exterior, the slope of the grassed mound rises to meet the upper level of the lower tier. Car parking areas are ranged around the mound.

Founded on the site’s underlying limestone, 52 pairs of rectangular in situ concrete columns rise through the substructure to the distinctive concrete upper tier and its cantilevered roof, which together make a ‘clam’ shape in section. The columns support a pair of annular in situ concrete beams, creating two continuous portal frames to carry the superstructure.

The upper tier and its roof are divided into 26 bays separated by 8m wide full-height ‘gaps’, which provide one of the most visually dramatic aspects of the structure. External concrete access stairs use these gaps, which are flanked by the columns, providing segregated exit routes around the stadium.

The seating steps are 800mm wide, with a maximum riser of 600mm at the top row on the upper tier. The rake is such that everyone can see over the heads of those in front. A large scoreboard hangs from the roof’s edge at each end of the stadium.

Artificial lighting was provided to FIFA standards using 264 individual 3,500W metal halide floodlights, giving overall illumination of 1,500-1,800 lux.

The visual simplicity of the structure has at its heart the confident command of geometry, structure and construction techniques that typify the work of engineer Peter Rice (1935-92), partner at Ove Arup & Partners.

History

Stadio San Nicola was built between 1987 and 1990 to serve as a playing venue for the 1990 World Cup.

The stadium was designed by Genovese architect Renzo Piano, who dubbed it “the spaceship”, because of the similarities in shape. The original design did not include an athletics track, but this was later added at the request of Italian Olympic Committee CONI.

Stadio San Nicola officially opened on the 3rd of June 1990 with a match between Bari and Milan (2-0). The stadium replaced Bari’s previous ground Stadio Comunale, also called Stadio della Vittoria.

During the 1990 World Cup, Stadio San Nicola hosted a total of five matches, among which three first round group matches, the round of 16 match between Czechoslavakia and Costa Rica (4-1), and the match for third place between Italy and England (2-1).

One year later, in 1991, the stadium hosted the European Cup final between Crvena Zvezda and Olympique de Marseille (0-0).

Most characteristic aspect of the stadium is its upper tier consisting of 26 separate petals.

Stadio San Nicola has turned out to be much too big for Bari, and a lack of maintenance has resulted in a heavily deteriorated state. Bari have therefore considered redeveloping the stadium into a smaller version, however are lacking the funds to do so.