Home of the Old Lady, Italy’s greatest.
In an earlier post I had written about a trip to Stadio San Siro, this was done during my transit stay in Milan, my final destination in this trip was Torino in Northern Italy. Now being in Torino, and me being the football nut that I am, I had to go to the Juventus Stadium as well. Juventus being the most successful Italian team and the name being hallowed throughout the World!
Apparently the new stadium of Juventus FC, christened simply as the Juventus stadium, was opened in the year 2011 and went on to replace the old Stadio Delle Alpi. Stadio Delle Alpi was apparently criticized a lot because of persistent problems such as distance between the stands and the pitch and a lack of atmosphere. Apparently I was about to find out that the new stadium solves all that and more, this was quite simply one of the most modern stadiums that I have ever seen! The stadium though is a bit far from the city and takes about an hour of travel from the city centre.
Juventus FC has also has a very renowned museum and perhaps what makes this museum unique when compared to the other sports museums is the extensive use of technology to provide a different approach to the traditional concept of a museum. It is really obvious that the club is extremely proud of being the first Italian club to win 30 scudettos, with that being highlighted everywhere.
A visit to the museum starts with the trophy room which has individual trophy cases that are lighted up separately. Upon leaving this room we reach the entrance wall which has quotes of famous players and various football celebrities, about Juventus and the team’s mentality. All this while upbeat and motivating music plays in the background. The motivating music plays throughout the entire museum experience.
The main room of the museum is where the history of this football club is laid out on one wall. There are historic memorabilia and the equipments used by the team which dates from 1897, the year when the club was founded. There are also historic sporting photographs and quotes which charts each phase of this club, I was impressed by how well organized the whole tour was! There is also a wall that is dedicated to displaying the jerseys of players who has represented ‘The Old Lady’ more than 200 times, of course this includes some absolute giants such as Zidane, Trezeguet, Nedved and the all time record holder Alessandro del Piero. There is also a an incredible artistic display which uses mirrors and only 6 TV screens to create the illusion of a giant football covered in TV screens, playing various moments of Juve. There is also a media display which is a projection of the coaches, Lippi and Trappatoni, in front of a recreation of the benches. These projections then are connected to a display and the visitors have the option to interact with these projections.
In short this is one tour, where if a person who is at first indifferent to either football or Juventus, they will surely leave with a changed mind.
