Milanello Sports Hall

Completely restructured and renovated upon Silvio Berlusconi’s wish, Milanello is nowadays one of the most prestigious and innovative European sport centres. Located on a hill at 300-m height, at a distance of only 50 kilometres from Milan and close to Varese, Milanello can be easily reached through the highway directed to the Lakes. The centre, built in 1963, is placed in a green oasis of 160 thousand square metres, also comprising a pinewood and a little lake and it is located between the towns of Carnago, Cassano Magnago and Cairate. The hypothetical boundary line between these towns passes through the middle of Milanello dressing rooms. Milanello currently represents an important asset not only for the Milan Club, but for the whole Italian football system. This was indeed the objective pursued by Andrea Rizzoli who decided to build it. The continuity has then been ensured by Silvio Berlusconi with his firm willingness to provide to coaches, trainers and players a comprehensive centre designed to satisfy their needs. The ever most advanced facilities of Milanello have often been used also by the Italian Football Association (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) for the preparation of the National Team’s important competitions, such as the European Championships in 1988, 1996 and 2000.
At Milanello there are six regular pitches, 1 in synthetic grass (35 m x 30), 1 covered pitch with synthetic ground (42 m x 24) and a small-sized outdoor pitch in grass named "cage" because the playing field is surrounded by a 2,30 m high wall and topped by 2,5 m high fencing. Inside the cage, the play never stops, with the ball always in motion in order to enhance the speed of execution. A path running through the woods ca. 1,200 m long at various altitudes is used during the season for the players’ physical training (running and biking) and for the recovery of injured players. The main building of the centre is a two-floor building (plus the basement) hosting the offices, the players’ rooms, the chimney room, a TV-room, a pool-room; a bar, a kitchen, two dining-rooms, the press room, the meeting room, the laundry, the ironing-room and the medical centre. Next to the main building the "guest-quarters" are located, where also a few players from the Youth Department live. These youngsters, coming from various parts of Italy and from abroad too, go to school as all other teen-agers and in the afternoons attend their training sessions on the field made available to them.