Stadio Artemio Franchi is a football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 stadium

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is currently the home of ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

. The stadium was temporarily noticed as the host of Italy's Six Nations matches from 2012

2012 Six Nations Championship

The 2012 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, will be the 13th series of the Six Nations Championship...

. The old nickname of the stadium was "Comunale."

The stadium was built in 1931 and holds 47,290. The architect is Pier Luigi Nervi

Pier Luigi Nervi

Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian engineer. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913. Dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61...

 (known for the Nervi Hall in the Vatican

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

) and it is one of the most relevant examples of 20th century architecture in the city.

The stadium is built entirely of reinforced concrete with a 70 meter (230 ft) tower that bears the stadium's flagstaff. The tower is called the "Tower of Marathon". Around the base of the tower, spiral ramps lead from the ground floor to the upper edge of the grandstand.

It hosted some of the football

Football at the 1960 Summer Olympics

The football tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics was held from 26 August to 10 September in 1960 throughout Italy.-Venues:-Medalists:-Group A:---------------------Group B:---------------------Group C:--------...

 preliminaries for the 1960 Summer Olympics

1960 Summer Olympics

The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

The stadium was originally called the "Comunale" but was renamed after the former FIGC president, Artemio Franchi

Artemio Franchi

Artemio Franchi was an Italian football administrator. He served as Italian Football Federation President , UEFA President and as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee . He died in a road accident near Siena on 12 August 1983.The home stadium of ACF Fiorentina and that of A.C...

 in 1991.

The stadium itself underwent renovations for the 1990 FIFA World Cup

1990 FIFA World Cup

The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...

 which included removing the running track and increasing the seating capacity.

The official record attendance is 58,271 from 1984-11-25, at a Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 match between Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

 and Internazionale

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Football Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...

.

Concerts

David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 performed at the stadium during his Glass Spider Tour

Glass Spider Tour

In 1987, David Bowie embarked on The Glass Spider Tour in support of the album Never Let Me Down alongside famed guitarist Peter Frampton. The tour was named after the album track "Glass Spider." The concert tour was the most ambitious by Bowie up to that date, surpassing the Serious Moonlight Tour...

 on June 9, 1987.

Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

 performed, with Level 42

Level 42

Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...

 as her opening act, the final show of her Who's That Girl World Tour

Who's That Girl World Tour

The Who's That Girl World Tour is the second concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her third studio album, True Blue , as well as the soundtrack Who's That Girl . It was Madonna's first world tour, reaching Asia, North America and Europe...

 at the stadium on September 6, 1987. This performance was filmed & later released as a VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 & later as a DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, titled Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy

Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy

Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy is a live music video by American singer-songwriter Madonna. Released by Warner Reprise Video on May 24, 1988, it contained a live performance from the 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour, filmed at Stadio Comunale in Turin, Italy on September 4, 1987 and in Florence,...

.

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

 performed on June 8, 2003 at the stadium during his The Rising Tour

The Rising Tour

The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003...

.

National team

The Italian National Football team rarely plays at the stadium. In fact, they played only one game there between 1982 and 2006; they won a friendly against Mexico, 2-0, on January 20, 1993. On December 4, 1982 they tied Romania, 0-0, in a qualifying match for Euro 1984. On March 1, 2006, they played a friendly against Germany and won 4-1. In May 2008 they played a friendly against Belgium and won 3-1.

On September 7, 2010, they defeated the Faroe Islands in the stadium 5-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifying match. The reason the team played in the stadium probably had something to do with the current manager of the team, Cesare Prandelli

Cesare Prandelli

Cesare Claudio Prandelli is an Italian football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national football team.-Playing career:...

, who coached in the stadium for 5 years as manager of ACF Fiorentina. The goals were scored by Alberto Gilardino

Alberto Gilardino

Alberto Gilardino, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Fiorentina and the Italian national team....

, Daniele De Rossi

Daniele De Rossi

Daniele De Rossi, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Roma. He is the current Roma's vice-captain and nicknamed as Capitan Futuro due to his high probabality as heir-apparent to Francesco Totti's captain armband.With Roma he has won the Coppa Italia...

, Antonio Cassano

Antonio Cassano

Antonio Cassano is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie A club Milan as a striker. Nicknamed Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia , he is known for his short temper as much as his ability on the pitch, which led to the coining of the neologism Cassanata by his former coach, Fabio Capello, in November...

, Fabio Quagliarella

Fabio Quagliarella

Fabio Quagliarella is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus and internationally for the Italian national team. He is known for scoring incredible goals from unconventional angles that often catch the goalkeeper by surprise.-Early career:Quagliarella began his...

 and Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo

Andrea Pirlo, Ufficiale OMRI , is an Italian World Cup winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus, and for the Italian national team. He is usually deployed as a deep-lying playmaker for both Juventus and Italy and is regarded as one of best players in this position...

. Because Quagliarella plays for Juventus, the rival of Fiorentina, he was booed for the goal he scored. Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the top 5 all-time...

, ex-Fiorentina and National Team striker, was in attendance at the stadium.

The stadium has also hosted international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 with Italy

Italy national rugby union team

The Italy national rugby union team represent the nation of Italy in the sport of rugby union. The team is also known as the Azzurri . Italy have been playing international rugby since the late 1920s, and since 2000 compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland,...

 having played Australia

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

on 20 November 2010, the Italian side losing by a score of 14-32.