Stadio Angelo Massimino - Catania Stadium Guide

Stadio Angelo Massimino first opened on 27th November 1937 with an inaugural match between ACF Catania and Foggia, with the home side nicking a narrow 1-nil win. Designed by architect Raffaele Leone and built by engineer Antonio Ferro, the stadiums construction took approximately two years in total. Upon opening it had a capacity of around 20,000 hence the nickname “Stadio dei Ventimilla” – Stadium of the Twenty Thousand”.

Ever since Catania earned promotion to Serie A in 1960 there have been persistent feelings amongst the fans that the stadium is inadequate. The management explored the feasibility of moving to a purpose-built football ground in Pantano d’Arci  without an athletics track but Stadio Dèi Palici failed to materialise.

With poor on-field performances culminating in relegation to Serie C1 in the late 1980s, Catania lacked the financial base to invest in new facilities and it wouldn’t be until 1991 and 1997 that significant renovations would occurred. This brought Stadio Angelo Massimino up to a reasonable standard, and allowed it to host two national matches against Slovakia and United States.

After investment from Gsport In 2013 Massimino underwent further remodelling  of the main stand in order to create more modern matchday experience. Two restaurants and executive facilities were added in order to increase the amount of matchday revenues, and satisfy updated criteria for top-flight stadiums in Italy.

The stadium was initially called Stadio Gibali upon opening but was renamed in honour of Angelo Massimino who served as the Rossazzuri’s president between 1969 and 1996. The record attendance of the modern era was set on 14th September 2002 when 23,200 people saw Catania defeat Genoa 3-2.

View of Stadio Angelo Massimino

Stadio Angelo Massimino is comprised of four stands: North, East, South and West.

Click the thumbnails above to enlarge an image of each stand and to read a more detailed description of each part of the Stadium.

Catania Club Shop

Catania operate two club shops around the city with neither being directly at the stadium:

1. Catania Point – Based in Torre del Grifo Village which is the clubs administrative and training base fans of the Rossazzuri can purchase a whole wealth of official merchandise from football shirts, jumpers, and gadgets. Address: Via Magenta, sn – Mascalucia (Catania) – Phone 095-7544416
2. City Centre -Located in Etna not far from Angelo Massimino, this store first opened on December 14th 2013 with fans getting the chance to meet some of the players including Francesco Lodi and Nicolas Spolli. The Address is: Etna, 394 – Catania – Phone 095-7477457

Note: No opening times appear to be available online but typically in Italy shops are open in the morning, close for lunch around 12 or 1 and then reopen in the afternoon until early evening. You can always ask someone at your hotel for more information or phone the numbers above if you can speak basic conversational Italian.

There is no tour of Stadio Angelo Massimino available, so the best option is to arrive at a game slightly earlier than you normally would and spend some time taking the ground in.

There is however a tour available of Catania’s headquarters known as “Torre del Grifo Village” located 30 minutes North of the city centre in the municipality of Mascalucia which is almost but not quite near the foot of Mount Etna. The impressive complex contains the executive office of Catania’s management, 4 football pitches which the club train on as well as a gyms, a swimming pool and even restaurant, with the Etnei Etneans citing it as a major competitive advantage for the club.

Open to the public by default, you can enquire about a behind the scene’s tour by filling in a contact form.

If you are driving then the chances are you’ll be travelling from the North (A18), in which case you need to turn off at the Catania (Centro) exit and follow the road for further 4km until you have gone through a second tunnel which leads to the Via Vincenzo Giuffrida. Stick with this road for half a kilometre and then take a right onto Via Gabriele D’annunzio when the opportunity presents itself. Follow this for 2km before making a final right turn into the Via Giuseppe Fava which should place you directly in front of the stadio.

Due to a lot of land being uninhabitable across Sicily due to the mountainous terrain and Volcanic activity, Catania is quite densely populated, with Angelo Massimino surrounding by residential housing. This means Parking is a bit of a free for all with there being a small amount of “proper” spaces around  the Western side stand.

The main flight hub for the city is the Aeroporto di Catania-Fontanarossa, Catania-Fontanarossa Airport which is only 2.6 miles Southwest of the city centre. As the busiest airport in Sicily and 6th in Italy, it has a prime location with strong transport links such as the A19 Motorway nearby allowing quick access to both Catani and Palermo.

For those flying in there is a shuttle bus service which takes passengers from the airport to the city in more more than 20-30 minutes on average.