The Stadio Ettore Giardiniero - Via del mare, known as Stadio Via del mare, is a multi-purpose stadium in Lecce, ⚽️ Italy. It is mostly used for football matches and is the home of U.S. Lecce. The stadium was built in ⚽️ 1966 and holds 40,670 seats.[3] It takes its name from the street leading to the sea, and from the Lecce ⚽️ Mayor at the time of the first renovation of the stadium in 1985.[4]

History [ edit ]

Lecce supporters during a match ⚽️ against Roma, April 2012

The Via del mare was inaugurated on 11 September 1966, during a friendly between U.S. Lecce and ⚽️ Spartak Moscow. The stadium replaced the old Stadio Carlo Pranzo, which was named after a young soldier from Lecce killed ⚽️ in the First World War. On 2 October of that year, the first match between teams from Italy was played ⚽️ with Lecce beating local rivals Taranto 1–0. In 1967 Lecce played a friendly against famous Pelé's Santos here.

The initial capacity ⚽️ was 16,000 spectators. In 1976, the capacity was increased to 20,500 seats. With the historic first promotion of Lecce to ⚽️ Serie A in 1985 the stadium was almost completely rebuilt and capacity greatly increased to 55,000, which made it the ⚽️ 6th stadium in Italy by capacity until 1990 FIFA World Cup.[5] Both the Curva Nord, now the terrace of the ⚽️ organized fan groups led by the Ultrà Lecce, and Curva Sud, where Gioventù are based were rebuilt. The tribuna and ⚽️ Distinti were also upgraded and then, to ensure that all seats were numbered, capacity was reduced to 40,670 seats.