Palazzetto dello Sport
PalaTiziano | |
 | |
| Location | Piazza Apollodoro I-00199 Rome |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°55′47″N 12°28′15″E / 41.929617°N 12.470732°E |
| Owner | Municipality of Rome |
| Capacity | Basketball: 3,500 |
| Surface | Parquet |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1956 |
| Built | 1957 |
| Opened | 1957 |
| Architect | Annibale Vitellozzi |
| Structural engineer | Pier Luigi Nervi |
| Services engineer | Ingg. Nervi & Bartoli |
| Tenants | |
| M. Roma Volley (2006-Present) Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (2011-Present) | |
The Palazzetto dello Sport is an indoor arena located in Piazza Apollodoro in Rome, Italy. Built for the 1960 Summer Olympics and inaugurated in 1957, it has a 3,500 seating capacity for basketball games[1] and was designed by architect Annibale Vitellozzi[2] and its reinforced thin-shell concrete dome was engineered by Pier Luigi Nervi under the direction of Engineer Giacomo Maccagno.[2] The venue hosted basketball among other sports during the Olympic Games.[3] Presently, the Palazzetto dello Sport also hosts volleyball matches.
Less commonly known as the PalaTiziano[1] or PalaFlaminio,[1] the venue was constructed along with the 11,500-seat PalaLottomatica (dome also designed by Nervi) for the 1960 Summer Olympics.[2]
The arena was home to Virtus Roma from its foundation until the early 1980s, and also for a period of several years at the start of the current millennium, when the team's regular home venue of PalaLottomatica was being renovated. The arena hosted the team again starting in 2011, as PalaLottomatica had high management costs and Virtus Roma was out of Euroleague competition at the time.[4]
Design
At its inauguration, the facility incorporates a first-aid center, four groups of dressing-rooms along with an officials dressing room, a medical sports centre, a management office and a press room with 12 telephone booths, two store rooms and basement-located Heating and air-conditioning equipment.[2] Seating could be configured for 3,500 basketball spectators and up to 5,600 for boxing or wrestling spectators.[2]
The arena is constructed with a ribbed concrete shell dome 61m in diameter, itself constructed of 1620 prefabricated concrete pieces,[2] braced by concrete flying buttresses. As much of the structure was prefabricated, so that the dome was erected in 40 days.[5]
See also
Norfolk Scope, also by Nervi
References
- ^ a b c I NUMERI DEL PALATIZIANO
- ^ a b c d e f "The XVII Olympiad Rome 1960, Volume I, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee p59" (PDF). Federal Register May 4, 07 p.25485.
- ^ 1960 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 1. pp. 60, 62.
- ^ http://www.virtusroma.it/ticketing/il-palazzetto-dello-sport/ Virtus Roma home arena
- ^ Fletcher, Banister; Palmes, J.C. (1975). A History of Architecture. Charles Scriber's Sons. p. 1264. ISBN 0-684-14207-4.
