Milan’s first ever sports arena

On December 18th, 2019, Pavilion 3 of the fairgrounds—the city’s first ever indoor sports arena—was sold at auction to the insurance group Generali, for a winning bid of €30.1 million. The history of the pavilion is not widely known, even among Milan locals, yet it is a long and record-breaking one.

Having acquired the area of land centred on Piazza d’Armi from the city, the newly established Milan Fair Board (July 1st, 1922) immediately started work on the fairgrounds with the construction of a big permanent pavilion, the Palazzo dello Sport in Piazza VI Febbraio. The pavilion was designed as a multi-purpose venue that could host exhibitor stands for fairs, but also large sporting events, in a city that did not yet have a facility for that purpose. The Palazzo dello Sport was, therefore, the very first indoor sports arena for the city of Milan.

Also known as Pavilion 3, it was designed by Paolo Vietti Violi, built in less than six months, and officially opened in April 1923 for the first Milan Fair to be held at the new fairgrounds.

The pavilion was huge in size for its time, with a rectangular base of 104 x 81 metres. The central section had no structural elements and was surmounted by a dome measuring 55 x 89 metres (one of the biggest in all of Italy at the time). The stands seated up to 18,000 spectators. One of the most amazing elements of the building was without a doubt the elliptical design of the central section on the ground floor, covering a surface area of around 4,000 square metres and a height of 30 metres, and encircled by a regular sequence of concrete columns. The façade of the sports arena was embellished by Violi in the Beaux-Arts style with late Art Nouveau features.

Over its long and distinguished history, the Palazzo dello Sport hosted a great variety of sporting competitions, from the legendary Six Days of Milan track cycling event to world-title boxing matches, and was the home venue for several of the basketball championship titles won by Olimpia Milan. Alongside its purpose as a sports venue, Pavilion 3 was also home to numerous motor shows, motorcycle expos, and boat shows. In the 1930s it was the venue of the International Air Show, while in more recent times it has played host to Milan fashion shows.

One event in particular ties Milan to the sports arena in Piazza VI Febbraio. In 1946, the city’s opera house, La Scala, was unable to host its full season due to the heavy damage the theatre had suffered during the war. With the Palazzo dello Sport back on its feet—it was the first pavilion to be rebuilt for the fairgrounds—the arena was provided as a venue for the full opera season. And so after the formal approval of Arturo Toscanini, who apparently tested the acoustics first, on July 20th, 1946 the sports arena was transformed into a world-class concert hall seating six thousand people for the premiere of Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, conducted by Franco Ghione. Performances at the arena continued through to September with another fifty shows staged (the operas Rigoletto, Aida, Tosca, Lohengrin, Carmen, and Cavalleria rusticana and ballets).

In 2004, the Fondazione Fiera Milano transferred ownership of the pavilion (which is heritage listed and so subject to building restrictions) to Milan City Council as part of redevelopment plans for the old fairground district. Work on the restoration of the façade by City Life was completed in 2017. The former pavilion 3 was purchased at the auction announced by the Municipality of Milan in December 2019 by Assicurazioni Generali with a very tight head to head against the competitor Allianz. After 52 raises, Generali offered 30.1 million euros, compared to the starting price of 14.2 million. The building can be used for activities of public interest (cultural, exhibition, sports and commercial up to 2,550 square meters of sales area) which must in any case be subject to prior approval by the Superintendency. In the midst of the covid-19 emergency, Generali offered the space of the old Palazzo dello Sport where Fondazione Fiera Milano has set up one of the largest vaccination centers in Italy.