Project Viola

Project Viola

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Thu 02 Oct 2008 12:00 AM

‘In order to sustain a world-class football club what’s
needed is a world-class structure’, stated Diego Della Valle on September 19,
when AC Fiorentina officials unveiled their latest venture to bring the Viola,
and its stadium, to Champions League-level.

 

Designed by the much-acclaimed Roman architect,
Massimiliano Fuksas, the new football stadium will seat approximately 45,000
spectators and will meet FIFA standards and regulations. Though Fuksas has
offered only draft drawings so far, his idea is a stadium enveloped in a sort
of transparent film, like a cloud.

 

The ambitious project, dubbed Viola
City, goes beyond the high-tech state-of-the-art structure that the Fiorentina
club needs to play on the international stage. The complex will house the
club’s head-quarters, a sports centre and games area for children, a museum and
exhibition space, a five-star hotel, a shopping mall that will showcase the
high end of the Made in Italy labels, restaurants, bars and ample green areas.
At 80 hectares (32.3 acres), the massive complex would be the same size as
Florence’s historic city centre or a third of Cascine Park.

 

The goal is to create a safe and
func-tional urban space attractive to families. Fuskas imagines a pedestrian
area where visitors can walk from shop to shop yet still be in nature. ‘The
focal point of the project is the landscape’, he explained in an interview with
the Corriere Fiorentino.

 

Within days of the press conference
held at the Four Seasons Hotel, the majority of city officials praised the
project and are already discussing a possible location for Viola City:
Castello, next to Peretola airport, is one of the few areas in Florence that
can sustain the space and infrastructure. Although the Della Valle brothers are
eager to start construction as soon as possible, city council must first modify
zoning laws and grant permits. What Palazzo Vecchio will not have to do is
raise funds for the project. With the support of a bank, the Della Valle group
promises to assume all costs.

 

Nonetheless, the Viola project has
its share of obstacles. The space that the Della Valles have identified in
Castello has been already been zoned for regional and provincial offices,
residential homes and an 80-hectare park designed by Christophe Girot. Placing
the proposed Viola City in Castello would also be problematic for the Peretola
airport expansion.

 

Though most local politicians seem to approve of the
Viola project, some have expressed serious doubts, wondering if Castello is the
best location. The debate has even had political fallout: when culture
superintendent Giovanni Gozzini fiercely criticized the project, his comments,
which many felt to be offensive, caused an outcry; a day later, he resigned.
After Mayor Leonardo Domenici applauded Gozzini’s decision to leave the city
council, calling it ‘an act of institutional and political sensibility’, sports
superintendent Eugenio Giani was appointed to take Gozzini’s place while the
city explores the pros and cons of situating Viola City in Castello. 

 

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