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Located within Viale delle Olimpiadi, the use of the land for football on which today’s stadium sits dates back to the early 20th century when the sport was still growing in popularity. Although some report 1923 as being the earliest recorded instance of football matches taking place at the ground, the stadium didn’t begin to flourish until the 1960s. Consisting of two grandstands, tribunes, and two stands behind either goal ends known as Curvas, the basic structure of Stadio Carlo Castellani was inaugurated on the 12th September 1965. Today the ground has a capacity of 19,795 and it still retains a lot of its original features including the Athletics track capable of hosting running events as well as long jump. The ground is named in honour of former Empoli footballer Carlo Castellani who is one of the club’s all time top goalscorers. Born within the nearby Montelupo Fiorentino in Tuscany, Carlo Castellani, sadly died after being deported to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Upper Austria during the second World War. Renovations for Empoli’s stadium have usually been led by the local municipality with Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Cambiano financing improvement such as the rebuilding and renaming of the Curva Sud in honour of Emiliano Del Rosso in 2007. However, when Empoli qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2007-2008 the club financed the renovation of the main stand in order to meet the requirements for the staging of European football.

DRIVING The address for satnav is as follows: Via delle Olimpiadi, 50053 Empoli Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy Car Parks There are a total of three car-parks located around the perimeter of Carlo Castellani with the largest ones located south of the ground and behind the eastern stand. Accessible from Via delle Olimpiadi behind Curva Sud there appears to be a few hundred spaces although we currently don’t have any information regarding how much it costs or if it is open to the general public on matchdays. Failing this the town centre has lot of spaces and is less than 15 minutes away by foot. TRAIN The commune of Empoli is served by a single station known simply as Stazione Empoli. Located 1.5km south of Carlo Castellani stadium, the station is located centrally which means you can walk to the ground in just under 20 minutes upon arriving. BUS The nearest but stops to Stadio Carlo Castellani are all located along Via delle Olimpiadi which runs adjacent to the south-eastern corner of the pitch. The stop known as Giardino Comunale is served by bus routes number 1 and 2 which depart from multiple locations in the town centre including from outside the train station.