Milan’s San Siro has survived two world wars, economic collapse, and countless derby matches where grown men threw things at each other. But it could not survive hosting the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Apparently that was too much.
The stadium is 100 years old. One hundred. It has been the beating heart of Italian football for a century, the place where AC Milan and Inter have won championships, where fans have lost their voices and their minds in equal measure. Then Italy held the Winter Olympics there, and suddenly everyone decided the building should probably be demolished.
This is the absurdity we have arrived at: a venue is celebrated as prestigious enough to host a global event, then immediately deemed unfit for purpose because it hosted that global event. It is as if someone looked at San Siro and said, “This place is perfect for the Olympics. Which means it is definitely not perfect for anything else.”
The logic is circular and infuriating. Modern stadiums need modern facilities. Fair enough. But San Siro is not old because it refuses to improve—it is old because it has been there, hosting matches, creating memories, defining generations of supporters. The Olympics did not break it. The Olympics just gave Milan’s power brokers an excuse to do what they probably wanted to do anyway: build something new, redevelop the land, move on.
There is no tragedy in progress. The tragedy is treating a century of history like a problem to be solved rather than a foundation to build on. San Siro deserves better than to become a cautionary tale about what happens when you prove you are too good at your job.