Stadio "Del Duca"

Stadio Del Duca is home to Ascoli Calcio. This stadio holds 29,000 fans for a city that is wedged between two rivers and two mountains. Ascoli calcio is a Serie B squad (second division team). There stadium originally was placed around a running track with all concrete and travertine stones (the local building material). The whole stadium was originally designed with this similar to the rest of the ancient city. Now, two curves have been placed behind each goal acting as grand stands and anchors for each team’s supporters.

As any Italian City, Ascoli is always alive and thriving every business day of the week. People are eating, shopping, talking outside and living how all Italians live. But in Ascoli, game day is very different. Ascoli has many things that it is proud of: its ancient city history, its celebration of carnivalle and of course its calcio. So when one of these events is on display, everything stops so that the people of Ascoli can showcase and celebrate together. For this game, I arrived four hours early in hopes of documenting the stadio. When I arrived, there were already a few older gentleman outside of the stadium talking, while wearing the scarves of Ascoli’s colors. The nearby bars and pubs were filled with people soon after having lunch before the game. I found out the hard way, that tickets were also sold there in the bars, not at the stadiums. The police near the stadio monitor all the people and a ticket is necessary with your name on it.

As game time neared you could see the crowds of people in black and white coming closer to the stadio, holding flags of their team and being very excited. The number of men who arrived early has increased exponentially and the volume of their discussion even more. Upon entering the atmosphere is amazing. It is quickly distinguishable that the people who come to this game to cheer are the locals, the everyday people of Ascoli because they sit behind the goals in the cheap seats of the curves. The young find their way quickly to the direct center of this curve and formulate the choir for songs, and then older men at the very front and bottom to get the best seats for seeing and commentary.

At the first sign of Ascoli Calcio entering the field the crowd starts the songs. During the announcement of the players, the announcer only says the first name of every player for the home team and the crowd knows to yell the last name in unison. The fans here don’t buy beer or popcorn to enjoy their experience, for them the game is the only importance. Every man, every women, every child in the stadium was fixated on what was occurring and if their eyes weren’t glued to the field it was because they were screaming and bickering about the play before. This stadium was relatively empty when I was there, but I do not believe that Ascoli Calcio could have asked for a better support and fans than what was there that day.

IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS:

- old original stadium with conrete/travertine structure and main stand with simple covered structure

- new “curves” with embellished structure at each end for the true fans

- security divisions every few seconds to prohibit movement during the game

- older gentleman acting wise and commenting constantly during the game

- the youth and younger men singing constantly

Other analysis:

the original grandstand is now used for the media and high paying important people of Ascoli

the street that leads to the stadio from the city is located in a place to notify the two important geographical features of Ascoli, the mountains and the rivers

the local bars are occupied inside at lunch time and become hang outs before the game starts, tickets are sold here and at other nearby bars, no where else

the security gates and partitions not only keep people out of the grounds but segragate each section so people can only enter into their specific section

the logo of Ascoli Calcio acts as a joint between the new and old parts of the stadio

in this diagram you can see the main entry points and the secondary points, also the linear blue sections show the partitions for security and from the field, the shaded blue is the existing main stand

approaching the stadium an hour before kick off after lunch

a local pub on the first floor with decorative lights and living quarters above

once inside, the entrance to the stadium is within the structure and towards the field and is simple

diagram of entrance through color

the new structure is so different and repetitive

the men talking and debating before kickoff at the front even though their tickets are for up above

the curve is packed with the local fans, the black and white of Ascoli Calcio and the fans and signs

within the stadium you can see how uncrowded it is within the main stands and opposing curve, it has become so dangerous to go to games and so many people choose not to go

the mountains provide a backdrop

the new structure is apparent here with the existing at the bottom made from travertine and concrete

a section showing how the original stadium was designed at the curves with the seats built on the ground and the new curves erected above

the main grandstand showing the original (blue) the media and wealthy (red) and the new cheap seats (yell0w) this sketch also shows the importance of the main grandstand because of the covering