Estádio Palestra Itália, Football stadium in Barra Funda District, São Paulo, Brazil.
Estádio Palestra Itália was a football stadium in Barra Funda with concrete terraces and a main stand that held around 27,650 spectators. The venue had multiple entrance gates and designated seating sections organized for different groups of supporters.
The Companhia Antarctica Paulista laid out the Parque da Antarctica leisure ground for its workers at the end of the 19th century; on 3 May 1902 Mackenzie College beat Sport Club Germânia 2–1 there in the opening match of Brazil's first official football championship, the Campeonato Paulista. Palestra Italia, which had sublet the field from América F.C. in 1917, bought the ground and facilities in 1920 for 500 contos de réis, a deal mocked as "A Loucura do Século". Reinforced concrete stands were inaugurated on 13 August 1933 in a 6–0 win over Bangu, and the stadium closed in July 2010 for rebuilding as the Allianz Parque arena.
The ground was long called Parque Antártica after the Antarctica Paulista brewery, whose workers' leisure park once occupied the site. Palmeiras fans filled it for decisive finals, including the 1999 Copa Libertadores, won on penalties against Deportivo Cali with goalkeeper Marcos named best player of the tournament.
The stadium stood in Barra Funda, in São Paulo's west zone, beside the Companhia Antarctica Paulista factory that gave the site its Parque Antarctica nickname. The pitch was rented to small city clubs from the early 20th century, and from 1917 Palestra Itália shared it with América F.C., training and playing in the afternoons while América used the mornings.
The ground was leased to América F.C. in 1916, which sublet it to Palestra Italia the following year: América trained and played on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday mornings, Palestra in the afternoons. Palestra bought the land in 1920 for 500 contos de réis, a deal mocked as "A Loucura do Século" because few believed the young club could pay; in 1922 it sold part of the land to Industrias Matarazzo to cover the last instalment.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,783 contributors worldwide.