Renzo Barbera Stadium

THE ROSANERO ROOTS

The “Renzo Barbera” stadium is the symbol of Palermitan football and of the rosanero sporting faith. With its 36,365 seats it is one of the main Italian stadiums, and is often the venue for international matches of the Italian national team since the Italia 90 World Cup when the then named “Stadio de la Favorita” underwent significant renovation and was expanded to host some of the matches of Group F which included Holland, Egypt and Northern Ireland. To make the renovation possible, between 1988 and 1990 Palermo was hence forced to play the official matches in Trapani.

Today’s Barbera stadium has been the home for Palermo’s matches since January 24th 1932, when it was inaugurated on the occasion of a Serie B Palermo VS Atalanta match which ended with a 5-1 score. The first name of the stadium was “Littorio”, and in 1937 it was renamed “Michele Marrone” in memory of a former footballer who played for Palermo, an officer of the Bersaglieri who died during the Spanish Civil War. With the fall of the regime it was then simply named “la Favorita” and since 2002 is named after president Renzo Barbera. Designed by architect Giovan Battista Santangelo, and completed in 1948, it underwent renovations in 1984 (with the construction of the second ring) until works for Italia 90 World Cup.

The attendance record for a sporting event registered at the Barbera is 35,872 spectators, recorded on May 9th, 2010 in the Palermo VS Sampdoria match (1-1), 2009/2010 Serie A Championship. Many times, in the course of the years, the stadium in Palermo went sold out, mostly on the occasion of the big matches of Palermo in Serie A, but also during the Serie C playoff in the 2021-2022 season, which were finally wqn by the rosanero team with its return in Serie B a few days after its entrance in the ownership of the City Football Group.

The Barbera stadium has also hosted some very important musical events over the years. The most important was undoubtedly Palermo Pop 70, to be considered the 1st “underground” festival in Italy, one year after Woodstock, which featured artists like Aretha Franklin, Arthur Brown, Duke Ellington, Black Sabbath, Colosseum and many others. In the ’80 the stadium hosted, among others, the concerts of Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Claudio Baglioni. The summer of 2023 saw the return of the big live events with the concert of Vasco Rossi.

On 9th August 2025, the Renzo Barbera Stadium hosted the first edition of the Anglo-Palermitan Trophy, a match between Palermo and Manchester City to celebrate 125 years of history of the Rosanero Club. It was an evening of high participation and relevance, paying tribute to Palermo’s English roots and its present within the City Football Group.