Romano d’Ezzelino (Vicenza): Natural grass pitch for L.R. Vicenza

The Sporting 55 centre, a complete and multifunctional sports complex, is the home of the L.R. Vicenza Training Centre at the foot of the Asiago Plateau. The owners (Red Circle Srl) invested in the construction of a new regulation playing field for the first team’s training activities.

The proposed objective was to obtain a high-performance and efficient pitch, to allow professional football players to express themselves at their best on a comfortable natural grass pitch with an optimal surface. For this, a construction project for a modern football pitch was designed, conforming to international standards in terms of agronomic performance, aesthetics and playability. A latest-generation turf used in the U.S.A. for many stadiums and sports fields was chosen, here installed for the first time in Italy in a pioneering approach.

Bermudagrass NorthBridge is a hybrid lawn created by crossing two particular clones of Cynodon dactylon and C. transvaalensis, selected by the Oklahoma State Turfgrass breeders for its excellent turf quality, early spring green-up and exceptional sod resistance.

The Northbridge, with its extraordinary root system that forms a network of superficial stolons and deep rhizomes, gives the turf excellent mechanical strength. It is the perfect basis for achieving the quality standards set by the FIGC as well as UEFA and FIFA for professional football. Parameters of rooting, aesthetic quality, but also playability and safety for the players.