All the secrets of Fiorentina's Viola Park

It was at the start of the new millennium, in March 2001 to be precise, that Fiorentina, under the leadership of Vittorio Cecchi Gori, first attempted to bid farewell to the "campini" - at least in a concrete and decisive way. This is what the not exactly avant-garde rooms near the Stadio Comunale, where the Viola have been training for a long time, were and are called in the city. Temporary, but only in theory: in fact, the club had already settled there decades earlier and despite an attempt in 2001 - which failed when the club went bankrupt - it remained there until the Viola Park was inaugurated last year.

The club had already tried to move to its own facility in the 1970s and 1980s without much success. Sesto Fiorentino and then Pontassieve were first considered, but in both cases the project was put on ice without anything coming of it. The Cecchi Gori project, on the other hand, was more concrete: The acquisition of the land in Bagno a Ripoli, a dozen kilometres outside Florence, seemed to be the long-awaited turning point, the beginning of a new era; but unfortunately, the looming collapse of the company dragged everything into bankruptcy proceedings and put the search for a space for a sports centre on hold.

The project was taken up again by the Della Valle family, who owned the club during the years of its rebirth and later its return to Serie A. Initially, an attempt was made to lay the foundation stone in the municipality of Incisa Valdarno, but due to the delicate business situation, the decision was made to opt for a solution that was more tangible in the immediate future, modernising the "Campini" and postponing the infrastructural revolution once again. This led to the presentation of "Cittadella Viola", an ambitious project that envisaged the construction of a dedicated sports centre and stadium ex novo, in a complex to be built first in the Castello district of Florence, then in Novoli, in Campi di Bisenzio and finally in Cascine Park. But even this time, the provisional status of the club was not yet over.

The Commisso arrival

The turning point came with the arrival of the new owner in the city in 2019. Led by Rocco Benito Commisso and backed by his huge financial fortune (around 6.5 billion dollars according to Forbes estimates), the American owner was immediately determined to put the sports centre at the top of the agenda. Words were followed by deeds: Within a few months, Cecchi Gori's idea was revived, new land was acquired in the Bagno a Ripoli area and work began as early as 2021, although there were some delays due to the pandemic and the appeal by Associazione Italia Nostra (rejected by the regional administrative court). In the end, in the summer of 2023, the first building owned by the association will be inaugurated with an investment of around 115 million euros.

A gift from the new patron to himself (official name of the centre: Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park), but also and above all to a city and a fan base that (too) often criticises him for his alleged "greed" in the football market, despite the sporting growth of recent years, both nationally and internationally, and despite the enormous start-up costs in 2019. To the Viola Park project must be added the 170 million spent on the acquisition of the club and the same amount that has flowed into the company's coffers through the capital increase, loss coverage, sponsorship (via Mediacom) and the first major coup on the market (Nico Gonzalez, the most expensive purchase in Fiorentina's history).

And so, after decades in which the issue was a sore point for the Tuscans, the sports centre is now the jewel in the crown. Viola Park is not only a corporate asset, but also the guardian of the club's history and values, the laboratory where the club's future is being shaped and, ultimately, a glorious image of "Fiorentina".

The Viola Park

Viola Park is a complex located a dozen kilometres from the centre of the Tuscan capital. It extends over 26 hectares and includes twelve regular pitches (with natural and hybrid grass), two stadiums (Curva Fiesole and Davide Astori) and a long series of buildings, offices, meeting rooms, pavilions, gyms, swimming pools, wellness centres, clinics, changing rooms and various types of commercial areas (both for the public and for trade). This also includes an 18th century farmhouse (Cascina Favard), which is being restored and used as an office building. During the months of construction work - which was assigned to the companies Dam Costruzioni Generali, Nigro & Co. Costruzioni and Elcom System, the excavations brought to light a number of Roman and Etruscan artefacts.

Inside, you can only get around by bike or electric vehicles, such as the (strictly purple) "golf cart" that Giovanni "Joe" Barone used to drive around the area in the first months of Viola Park, before the manager's tragic death last March. The project, on the other hand, was designed to blend into the surrounding landscape with a strong focus on environmental sustainability and the enhancement of the environment. In place of the foundation stone, an olive tree was symbolically planted at the start of construction (today there are almost 200) and the association proudly emphasises that it has used mostly natural materials and reuse technologies in the construction. The photovoltaic panels installed on the roofs and the rainwater collection system virtuously guarantee the necessary resources for the needs of the entire sports centre. Viola Park is being created, among other things, in an area that until 2020 was in a state of neglect and decay, with piles of rubbish illegally dumped near the villa before the municipality and the association supported the "reclamation works".

The added value

Fiorentina's sporting and other activities take place every day at Viola Park: from the first men's team to the women's team to all the youth teams and, in the future, perhaps even the "reserve team". From the athletes' work on the pitch and in the sports hall to the work in the office and meeting rooms where the club's employees do their jobs every day. The two stadiums regularly host youth and women's matches as well as events of various kinds (the Viareggio tournament, international friendlies and even the start of the Tour de France in 2024). Outside the pitches, there are areas intended for the public (shops, bars, restaurants), but also for those who go about their daily lives here (there are three hairdressers, for example).

Such an area and sports centre not only increase the value of the club and optimise the running of its activities, but are also a clear plus for the attractiveness and status of the club. A place where young people can get to know the true essence of "Fiorentina" and get closer to the team, its history and its future projects. After all, Viola Park was planned and built precisely for this reason: to unite the past, present and future of one of the most historic teams in Italian football. By opening the doors of a centre that finally makes belonging to Fiorentina something special, not only in the abstract sense, but also in the everyday, for the fans and all members of the club.