Team: Siena
Capacity: 15,373
Built: 1923
City: Siena
With a capacity of only 15,373 Siena's Stadio Artemio Franchi is currently the smallest ground of all the teams in Serie A. It was originally opened in 1923 and is made up of a number of small stands that perhaps with the exception of the Curve Robur have been built on the basis of the stadium being used for athletics. This makes the stadium very open resulting in a rather lack-lustre atmosphere on occassions, and indeed, all the stands apart from the main stand are lacking a roof.
The newer Curve Robur has looked to slowly start to turn the Stadio Artemio Franchi into a more up-to-date football stadium. Built as a reasonably large single tier stand at one end of the pitch, its construction has ignored the fact that there was a running track in place and has allowed more spectators to get much closer to the action.
Like it's namesake the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Siena also named their ground after the former Italian Football Federation president. However last summer the official name of the stadium was expanded to include the name of the club's main sponsor after the naming rights to the stadium were sold. Therefore it should now be officially know as the Stadio Artemio Franchi - Montepaschi Arena.
This stadium sits in a back-drop of Tuscan hills and is surrounded by a wooded area. Although small the stadium has an innovative design that allows the landscape to live in harmony with the stands. In the whole of Italy there are not many more beautiful places to watch football than here as it incorporates good vantage points of the football with the breath taking scenery.
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