Location: Via per San Cataldo, Lecce
Built: 1966
Capacity: 33,786
Located in Puglia, the Stadio Via del Mare is a multi-purpose stadium, mostly used for football matches and is the home of U.S. Lecce. The stadium was built in 1966 and holds 33,876. It takes its name from the street running through Puglia that leads to the sea.
Built to replace Lecce’s previous home, the Stadio Carlo Pranzo, Lecce kicked off their stay with a friendly against Spartak Moscow, and the first competitive fixture was against local rivals Taranto.
The original capacity was 16,500, but was raised to 20,500 in 1976. However, 9 years later the stadium was almost completely renovated, the Curva Nord and Sud receiving huge increases in size, originally to a capacity of 55,000, but for practicality for seating numbers, it was reduced to 40, 670.
The press room was renamed in the honour of local journalist Sergio Vantaggiato, who died in August 2007.
The stadium also hosted a speech by Pope John Paul II in 1991.
The Gentleman Ultra says…
This impressive stadium was only a third of its size when constructed in 1966. Since then it has had two major renovations in 1976 and 1985, the second of which coincided with the team’s promotion to Serie A, taking the capacity to 55,000.
The venue since then has been turned into an all-seater and the capacity has been reduced. Despite its impressive location near the sea and, at the time its modern design, the stadium was overlooked for the 1990 World Cup in favour of the San Nicola in Bari. This brought about outrage from the locals, as the stadium was one of only two that needed no work to host the tournament.
The atmosphere in the Stadio Via del Mare is not what it was – the team’s poor performances have seen fewer and fewer fans turn out to support them. Even when in Serie A recently, their biggest attendance was 15,000 against Milan and they averaged under 10,000 for the rest of the season.
The Ultra groups Ultrà Lecce, and Gioventù create a fair amount of noise, but hopes that a second consecutive year in Serie A would bring back the fans were dashed.
