Ennio Tardini

The ground was meant to carry the plain name Stadio Municipale. Ennio Tardini, the club president who had pushed the project along, died shortly before it was finished, and the stadium was inaugurated under his name instead. It has kept that name ever since — no sponsor has been attached to it, though the idea was raised in 2021 as a way of paying for repairs.

Ettore Leoni designed it after looking at what the French and Germans were building, the Stade de Gerland in Lyon among them. What he produced was an oval with a running track round the pitch.

Promotion to Serie A in 1990 forced the change. The rules of the day demanded 30,000 seats; the Tardini held 13,500. Between 1990 and 1993 the track came out, the Tribuna Petitot was enlarged, the Curva Nord and Curva Sud were built in the corners, and the oval became an English-style rectangle holding more than 29,000. Local government put over twelve billion lire into the work, signed off in December 1993.

The record crowd came soon after: 35,000 for Parma against US Cremonese on 4 September 1994.

The Curva Nord now carries a second name, Curva Nord Matteo Bagnaresi, after a Parma supporter killed in 2008. A further redevelopment was drawn up for Italy's bid to host UEFA Euro 2016 — roofed corners, 31,397 permanent seats, some €40 million — and the bid failed, so none of it was built.