On how complicated it was to get to this goal: “It was obviously complex, a bit like everything when you do this job, when you work in a public body wanting to pursue the public interest. The path began in 2019, even if we have been talking about a new stage for decades: they were six intense years even if I only experienced four of them first hand. A fundamental step was certainly the resolution of 2023, with which the city council formally asked, for example, that 50% of the intervention remain green, that the stadium would have at least 70,000 seats and that the number of seats inside the stadium would be guaranteed for the less well-off groups at least equal to that of today. Therefore, 2023 was a very important moment, then on 11 March 2025 came the proposal to purchase the stadium and the GFU San Siro, and therefore the entire surrounding area, by Inter and Milan. The municipality started a procedure to verify the existence of better proposals, both from the point of view economic and planning. On 30 April 2025 we noted that no proposal had been received, therefore not only an improvement one, but no proposal from other operators, so we moved forward with Inter and Milan. We then arrived at the night of 29 September, with the city council giving the OK to continue this procedure and finally we arrived at the deed of 7 November; obviously everything has been very complex up to this point, and I must say it is also a source of satisfaction, but the work has only just begun, in the sense that now there will be important steps to get to the construction of the new stadium and the preparation of the entire surrounding area, including the refunctionalization of the Meazza”.
About what will happen now: “The first phase should start in 2026, with the demolition of the Patroclo tunnel, to be rebuilt a little further away from the houses in via Tesio. In February 2026, the drafting of the Pfte, so let’s say the project, will begin; in July 2026 there will be the last action, therefore the presentation of this project, then we will start with the services conference: let’s say that from October 2027 to the end of 2030 there will be the construction of the new stadium. The teams say that from 2031 we will have the new stadium, for the city it is very important that the stadium is ready and able to host the 2032 European Championships and then there will be the inauguration of the multipurpose area, then everything else, not the new stadium which will be ready but everything else, at the end of 2035 and so on. In the end, all these large urban regeneration projects take decades; partly, so the times are really very long, but these are the fundamental stages.”
On the possible dangers for the path to the new stadium for Milan and Inter at ‘San Siro’: “Today I am inspired by Musetti: you have to stay focused until the end. As in every procedure and in everything you shouldn’t say cat until you have it in the bag. There are appeals that are still pending, there are the various administrative steps that are never simple, so hitches are always possible. Everything will have to work as best as possible, we will be super careful at every step, certainly up until now it couldn’t have been done better than this, so I’m positive.”
On tickets for the new stadium: will it be ‘for the rich’ or accessible to all? “It will be a stadium accessible to all. One of the fundamental steps in these six years was the resolution of 2023, where the city council set so-called limits to allow us to move forward with this procedure for the stadium, in particular the city council asked that the stadium have at least 70,000 seats, today we are talking about 71,500 and that the so-called popular seats inside the stadium do not decrease, therefore that they are equal to those of today. This means that prices will obviously rise because the teams have in mind, as happens all over the world, to have more Premium seats, Hospitality for sponsors, for all that is the business world that will inevitably gravitate inside the new stadium, but there is this attention to ensure that football also remains available to the city, the citizens, the fans of today and tomorrow”.
On what it means for the city of Milan to still have clubs in the city: “As a fan it means everything, Milan clearly identifies with the two clubs, with Inter and Milan, the teams are part of the city’s culture, they are part of the city’s heritage: when the derby is played in the city, Italy, part of Europe, stops, when a Champions League match is played 200 countries in the world remember the existence of our city, they become curious, perhaps they decide to spend a weekend of their life in our city, so it is pure promotion to have two clubs like this in the city. After Madrid, Milan is the city that has won the most Champions Leagues, 10 in total; we are a city of design, fashion, work, even with ups and downs we remain one of the main football capitals in the world, so this is the great result in having sold the stadium to the teams to guarantee the teams have a quality facility in the city and therefore avoid their exit from our city.”
On the new stadium as a source of pride for the city of Milan: “I am sure that it will absolutely not be less symbolic and less quality than the current Meazza, as a fan I cannot help but say that it excites me not to enter the Meazza anymore, in the sense that we all have many memories inside this stadium and we will have them, because in any case the Meazza will remain the stadium of Inter and Milan until the new stadium is built, but I have no doubt that the new stadium will make us fall in love with itself exactly as the Meazza did for all of us small and large fans, so I am sure that the architects who were given the mandate will make us dream again.”
On when the new stadium will be ready: “The 2032 European Championships, the teams are a little more positive, I hope they surprise us like they do every weekend on the pitch.”
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