Venezia F.C.

Venezia's current home stadium, the Pierluigi Penzo, is the second-oldest stadium in Italy (the oldest being Genoa's Stadio Luigi Ferraris).

Stadio Pierluigi Penzo

It is a multi-use stadium in Venice, Italy. It is the largest sports facility in Venice. The stadium was first opened in 1913 and takes its name from World War I pilot Pierluigi Penzo.

Originally constructed from wood, the stadium was largely upgraded with a concrete main stand in the 1920s and further improvements were made in the decades that followed. The record attendance of 26,000 was for a 1966 Serie A match against A.C. Milan.

On September 11, 1970 a tornado hit Venice and caused extensive damage to the stadium. Due to the club's decline the stadium was only partially reinstated, and the capacity was reduced to just over 5,000. The club rose back up to Serie A in 1998 and additional makeshift stands were added, bringing capacity back up to 13,400, but it has since been reduced again to the current capacity of 7,450.

The stadium is notable as it is primarily accessible by boat.

The club was founded as Venezia Foot Ball Club on 14 December 1907,[2] by members of two local sports clubs coming together; Palestra Marziale and Costantino Reyer. It was originally based at Campo San Bartolomeo in the city of Venice. Fifteen men including the first president Davide Fano were involved in the club's founding;.[2] In 1919, the name was translated into Italian as Associazione Calcio Venezia.

A closeup of Valentino Mazzola.

The most notable trophy success in Venezia's history is winning the Coppa Italia during the 1940–41 season. The Cup-winning Venezia team included some of the players who went on to form the Torino F.C. side of the 1940s who died in the Superga air disaster in 1949, such as Ezio Loik and Valentino Mazzola.

In 1941–42, Venezia earned its highest ever Serie A position, finishing in third place in the league.

A.C. Venezia 1907

In the summer 1990, the club was renamed Associazione Calcio Venezia 1907.

Venezia has spent the majority of its history in Serie A and Serie B, Italy's two top divisions. The club was last relegated from Serie A in 2002. This last season in Serie A began a period of decline for the club. Frustrated with the team and the inability to agree on plans for a larger stadium with the local council, then president Maurizio Zamparini decided to purchase U.S. Città di Palermo, and he took with him a large portion of the squad.

Álvaro Recoba played for Venezia.

Notable recent former players include Álvaro Recoba, Filippo Maniero and Christian Vieri.

In 2002 the club was relegated to Serie B and declared insolvent because of bankruptcy.[3]

Venezia's original kit.

Originally Venezia's colours were blue and red and the shirt features halves in those colours, the kit was very similar to that of Genoa.[8] However just a year after the club founded, it changed colours to black and green in 1908.[8]

1963–64 Venezia with its historical black and green kit

Much later, in 1987 when the club merged with a local side Associazione Calcio Mestre from Mestre who wore orange and black,[9] orange would also become one of Venezia's official colours, giving them the nickname arancioneroverdi ("orange-black-greens").[10] Venezia's colours and kit are very distinctive; the shirt, shorts and socks are usually black with the shirt having a green and orange trim.

The symbol of the Venetian club is a winged-lion (see Lion of Venice), commonly mistaken for a griffin. The golden winged-lion is the official symbol carried by the city of province of Venice;[11] the symbol has led to one of the club's most popular nicknames in the form of leoni alati ("winged-lions").[10]

As the club has been renamed numerous times during its history, the badge has also changed several times; the most common one features the golden winged lion, along with the green and orange club colours with a golden border.[12] As the city of Venice is situated on the Venetian Lagoon, the club is also nicknamed lagunari ("Lagoonal ones").[13]

Venezia receives the 1940–41 Coppa Italia

Coppa Italia

• Winners: 1940–41

Serie B

• Champions: 1960–61, 1965–66
• Runners-up: 1938–39, 1948–49, 1997–98
• Promoted: 2000–01

Serie C/Serie C1

• Champions: 1935–36, 1955–56, 2016–17
• Runners-up: 1990–91

Coppa Italia Lega Pro

• Winners: 2016–17

Serie C2

• Champions: 2005–06
• Runners-up: 1987–88

Serie D

• Champions: 1982–83, 2011–12
• Runners-up: 1978–79

• Official website