Torino Club Focus: Return of the Filadelfia?

For many, many years Torino fans have endured empty promises and false hope with regards to a return to their iconic almost mythical former home, the Stadio Filadelfia.

Its restoration and reconstruction has been used as a ploy and tool for various presidential candidates and directors to curry favour with fans down the years.

Time and time again, hollow handshakes have failed to deliver in bringing back the once great ground to former glories. It currently lies derelict and decrepit, just a 10 minute walk from where Toro currently play their home games at the Stadio Olimpico.

But now there is hope that the Filadelfia will be back, a symbol of the past, which housed the magnificent Grande Torino among others, brought into the present to help nurture the talent of the future and the current squad.

However, do not mistake this for being the new home for Torino as many seem to be confusing that particular issue. It will be a training ground for the first team, a new complex for them to be put through their paces.

Plans are in place now to reconstruct the ‘Fila’ with the project having been designed by two architects Aimetti and Martinetto and includes two full-sized pitches with undersoil heating and a 4,200 seat grandstand.

Those pitches will be available for training purposes for both the first team squad and the Primavera, which has long been regarded as one of the finest in Italy and has nine Campionato Nazionale titles to their name.

It will also contain a tribute within its halls to the aforementioned Grande Torino and there will also be a tribute, although the idea for it has not been fully formulated as yet, to the late, great maverick midfielder Gigi Meroni of the Torino team of the 1970s, very much a man in the mould of Alessio Cerci in his day.

At the entrance to this new stadium (of sorts) there will be a giant bull, the Italian word for bull being Toro – the symbol and nickname of Torino FC) which will be constructed with pillars from the original Filadelfia which are currently housed at the Museo di Villa Claretta.

Already, €1 million in funding has been obtained for a project which is believed to be set to cost in the region of €8m by the time it is all completed.

There will also be a museum added at a later date which will cost €3m although it will not be just a moving of the current and fantastic Museo del Toro that exists out on the outskirts of the city.

It is unclear when, if ever, that extension is added due to a rocky relationship that exists between the club hierarchy and the museum that sadly exists but is something perhaps best left to be discussed another day.

A store will also be located within the confines of that museum at the Filadelfia.

The Board of Directors for the Filadelfia Foundation, who have worked tirelessly on bringing back the once great ground which is at present a home for the cats of the city who all gather and sleep where greats like Valentino Mazzola and Guglielmo Gabetto once strutted their stuff.

Their next meeting to hopefully continue talks for the restoration and completion of the Filadelfia is set for February 17th.

The road will be a long one and supporters have been let down in the past but with funding already in place and plans drawn up, there is optimism at least that this could be the beginning of a return to the emblem of the glory days.