The sale of San Siro, an affair born in 2019

It is a 'never ending story', as the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala once defined it, the one about the construction of the new stadium for Inter and Milan and the future of San Siro, with years of discussions, controversies, appeals and complaints to the public prosecutor's office. The final chapter will be staged with the City Council meeting, called to the bitter end, which will decide on the sale of the Meazza and surrounding areas, after seven years of negotiations.

It all started in the summer of 2019 when the clubs presented a proposal to Mayor Sala to build a new stadium in the San Siro area, which was destined to be demolished to make room for a more modern facility. The first citizen tries to convince the clubs to renovate San Siro, but for them it is more convenient to build a new facility. Amidst the controversy of those who would like to save the Milan stadium, the administrative process begins. For the new stadium, the clubs opt for the solution of the Populous studio, called La Cattedrale. It is the city council that has to assess the public interest of the project and set stakes for the clubs. After the vote, the junta accepts the proposals of the assembly, which expresses itself not without splits even in the majority among those who would like to save the San Siro stadium, and on 8 November 2019 gives the green light to the public interest.

Among the stakes for the teams are compliance with Pgt volumes, more greenery, and investment in the neighbourhood. The resolution confirming the declaration of public interest arrives on 5 November 2021. After the politicians have spoken, it is the turn of the citizens, who can do so by participating in the public debate on the new stadium, to be staged in the autumn of 2022. The road to the construction of the new stadium, however, is becoming so complicated that clubs are starting to look elsewhere, Inter to Rozzano and AC Milan to San Donato for new stadiums. Among the main obstacles is the referendum to save the Meazza from demolition, which was declared inadmissible by the City Council's Guarantors, and above all the constraint on the second ring, which should come into effect in 2025, for 70 years. We are now in 2023 and the mayor Sala, together with Inter and Milan, asks the Superintendency to anticipate the opinion, and in the summer the positive response arrives, the second ring will be constrained from 10 November 2025, so the stadium cannot be torn down. It is back to the initial hypothesis, i.e. renovating the Meazza.

In 2024, a project by Studio Arco Associati was presented to the City Council in March, showing how the renovation of the San Siro can be done while the clubs play. The company WeBuild became available to prepare a feasibility study, which was presented to the clubs in June. In September, Inter and AC Milan said no again, it was not worth renovating the San Siro, and so the plan for a new stadium was back on track. At this point, Mayor Sala's idea is to sell the stadium and the areas to Inter and Milan to realise the project. There remains the issue of the constraint that, according to the superintendence, is not automatically triggered if an asset passes from the public to the private sector. The municipality had the Agenzia delle Entrate assess the sale price, which estimated it at 197 million euro. It was March 2025, and yet another twist arrived: the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office opened a file on the sale, following a complaint by the Comitato Sì Meazza, with the aim of verifying whether or not there was any damage to the public coffers. In March came the invitation to tender for the sale of the San Siro, which remained open until 30 April. The bid arrived and it was that of Inter and Milan, who presented a 300-page document on the future of the area. After the summer break, in September, the junta gave a favourable opinion on the resolution, which is now in the hands of the city council.