Romes Flaminio Stadium has now become the Italian capital's official rugby field, on par with Twickenham in England and Scotlands Murrayfield. The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), which has taken over the management of the stadium, built by the architect Pierluigi Nervi towards the end of the 1950s, plans to carry out extensive modernization and restructuring to improve facilities both for players and fans. Over the past few years, rugby has had an increasing enthusiastic following in Italy, despite the fact that the coveted Six Nations Cup has so far remained a mirage for the Italian team. Tickets for the two matches scheduled to be held in the Flaminio Stadium for the 2008 edition of Italy-England on the 10th February and Italy-Scotland on the 15th March - are already sold out. The demand is such that the Italian Rugby Federation is studying a proposal to add a few thousand extra seats by erecting temporary stands. At the moment, the Flaminio Stadium can only accommodate 25,000.spectators.
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