The New Taranto Stadium for the 2026 Mediterranean Games: a Cecchetto&Associati Project
The new Iacovone Stadium in Taranto, designed by Cecchetto&Associati, will be one of the main venues of the XX Mediterranean Games Taranto 2026.
Cecchetto&Associati was responsible for the architectural design and overall design concept, overseeing every aspect of the new building envelope: from its design and material selection to the study of translucency, transparency and surface reflections.
From the 2024 Tender Award to the Opening on 21 August 2026
Following the award of the tender in 2024, Cecchetto&Associati developed the design for the new Stadium within a particularly tight timeframe, overseeing both its architectural configuration and its integration into the urban context.
The design addressed two major challenges: the reuse of some of the existing structures and the regeneration of a peripheral urban area. The result is a contemporary venue compliant with UEFA Category 4 international standards, designed to be active 365 days a year and to host not only sporting competitions, but also major events and performances.
The project also included a complete reorganisation of the internal spaces, with media and press facilities, areas dedicated to athletes, commercial spaces, hospitality facilities and flexible areas for cultural and social events.
21 August, the new Stadium will host the official Opening Ceremony of the XX Mediterranean Games. This will be an event of particular significance for Taranto and the surrounding region, attended by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni.
The complexity of the project required a multidisciplinary team, with Studio Boina of Mestre responsible for structural engineering and DF Ingegneria of Naples for building services engineering.
Steel, Light and Transparency: the Building Envelope as an Urban Screen
In stadium design, the external envelope is one of the key elements in creating architectural identity and recognisability.
In the case of the Iacovone Stadium, its form derives from a variable section shaped in response to the different views and relationships with the surrounding context, giving the building a strong sense of visual dynamism. Steel was chosen for the cladding, a material closely connected with Taranto’s recent history while also offering economic sustainability, modularity, ease of assembly and complete recyclability at the end of its life cycle.
The expanded and perforated metal skin, characterised by angled cuts, responds to changing light conditions and alters its appearance depending on the viewing angle. It becomes more or less transparent, revealing glimpses of the underlying structure and seating tiers. The result is a continuous interplay of light, shadow and transparency, giving the stadium’s skin an almost immaterial quality.
At dusk, the envelope can be transformed into a genuine “urban screen”, animated by lights and moving images, bringing what is happening inside the Stadium into the public realm and strengthening the relationship between the building and the city.
Experience and Research in Sports Architecture
The new Taranto Stadium builds on and further develops Cecchetto&Associati’s long-standing experience in the design of sports buildings and infrastructure.
This body of work includes, among others, the project for Atalanta’s Stadium in Bergamo, developed with Ove Arup, projects for the stadiums in Siena and Venice, and the new Pieve di Soligo Sports Centre.
These different experiences share a common vision: the stadium is not conceived as an isolated object, but as a part of the city, capable of creating new relationships with the urban fabric and the wider territory.
