Palazzetto dello Sport 
Piazza Apollodoro
Rome
Italy

Pier Luigi Nervi and Annibale Vitellozzi 1958

Built for the 1960 Olympics, the palazzetto is a modest sports stadium in an innovative concrete dome. The lower half of the dome as seen from inside is therefore not load-bearing, allowing a continuous ribbon of window the whole way around the circular stadium, beneath the elegantly ribbed, white-painted concrete ceiling.

The result is a building of surprising lightness, in both sense of the word.

Simon Glynn 2005

How to visit

The stadium is in the former Olympic park towards the north of Rome, just north of the Stadio Flaminio (also by Pier Luigi Nervi).

Piazza Apolladoro is at the intersection of the Viale Tiziano (running north-south) and Viale P. De Coubertin (running east-west), home of the Parco della Musica.

The stadium is in use and so not formally open to the public for visits. During a weekday afternoon I was able to put my head in through one of the many entrances during a practice game.