Stadio Via del Mare is a multi-purpose stadium in Lecce.
It is mostly used for football matches and is the home of U.S. Lecce.
The stadium was built in 1966 and holds 33,876. It takes its name from the street leading to the sea.
Built by Costantino Rozzi, the Via del Mare was inaugurated on September 11, 1966 during a friendly between U.S. Lecce and Spartak Moscow.
The stadium replaced the old Stadio Carlo Pranzo, which was named after a young fatality of World War I from Lecce.
In 1967 Lecce played a friendly match against famous Pelé's Santos here.
The initial capacity was 16,000 spectators.
In 1976, the capacity was increased to 20,500 seats.
With the historic first promotion of Lecce to Serie A in 1985 the stadium was almost completely rebuilt and capacity greatly increased to 55,000.
Both the Curva Nord, now the terrace of the organized fan groups led by the Ultrà Lecce, and Curva Sud, where Gioventù are based were rebuilt.
The tribuna and Distini were also upgraded and then, to ensure that all seats were numbered, capacity was reduced to the current 40,670 seats.
After this almost total renovation, the stadium in Lecce, along with the Stadio Friuli in Udine, was the only stadium ready for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
However the venue allocated to the Puglia region went to the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, which caused some controversy.