00:00When the San Siro opened 100 years ago today, it broke every single rule of Italian stadium design.
00:06So in 1926, then Milan president Piero Pirelli took inspiration from classic English grounds to build a venue strictly for
00:13Milan.
00:13Unlike traditional Italian venues with running tracks separating the crowd from the action,
00:19he designed a football-specific ground with supporters sitting directly next to the pitch.
00:23The stadium then grew in clear phases. The second tier increased capacity to 80,000 back in 1955,
00:31followed by the third tier, red steel roof and 11 iconic cylindrical towers for the 1990 World Cup.
00:38Those cylindrical towers became legendary for creating a striking visual illusion,
00:43where fans walking down actually appeared to glide downward like an escalator.
00:47Over the years, preservation laws on the second tier created severe hurdles for major renovations.
00:52But with both clubs now owning the stadium, the path towards modern development is finally set.
00:58Look, letting go of such a historic ground is difficult for supporters.
01:02But while concrete holds our memories, it cannot carry our long-term ambitions.
01:08Elite football clubs require modern infrastructure to match those ambitions.
01:12Because sometimes, the best way to honor the past is to keep building the future.
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