Juventus is traditionally the most beloved and most hated club in Italy. However, The Old Lady is a legendary stronghold and Turin is a real football city, where on each corner lays a historical story.
After rain comes sunshine. Certainly for Juventus, who after the infamous match fixing scandal and the following relegation came back stronger than ever. The last decade, the league title was a sure thing for Juve, until of all people former Juventino Antonio Conte ended the streak as Inter manager. Still, Juventus is in everything the biggest club of Italy, who led by chairman Andrea Agnelli keep on flirting with the Super League.
How did Juventus rise from the ashes? Because unlike most Italian clubs, they dared to replace their old stadium by a new one. Not such a hard decision, the Stadio delle Alpi, built for the 1990 World Cup, was more expensive than the current Juventus Stadium (as how it's widely known). The giant concrete colossus with the running track costed a serious 200 million euros. The Allianz Stadium was 45 million cheaper, more compact and modern, with 41.000 seats. This upgraded the ambiance and was the stadium regularly sold out, a rarity in the old stadium with 67.000 seats.
In the Allianz Stadium you can find the club's museum as well, with some unique pieces. For example, the Ballon d'Ors of Pavel Nedved and Omar Sivori are part of the collection, the World Cup Medal of Alessandro del Piero and even the bench where Juventus was founded on back in 1897 as well. The museum is behind the Tribuna Est and is also open on match days.
In walking distance of the Allianz Stadium you'll find at the Via Traves the J-Hotel of Juventus, the hotel of the club. Here do the players of The Old Lady stay prior of home games. You can stay there as well, but it's a little bit distant from the lovely city centre.
The Piazza San Carlo is the central square of Turin and has been the place where Juventus celebrates their titles for decades. A dear spot for Juventini, although the square turned into a disaster in 2017, when during a public viewing of the Champions League Final panic erupted among the thousands of fans, with three fatalities and thousands injured.
The stadium at Via Filadelfia is now known as the home of city rivals Torino, but during over 60 years Juventus played its home matches here as well. In 2006, it was used as the Olympic Stadium for the Winter Games and Juventus returned for a couple of years as well, awaiting the construction of the Juventus Stadium.
No restaurants in Turin breathe so much Juventus as Ristorante da Angelino at Corso Moncalieri 59, in a quiet part of the city east of the Po river. It has become sort of a picture museum with a the legendary players who had dinner here. The most proud are they with their friendship with Zinédine Zidane, in his time at Juventus child so much child at home that they even created his own dish on the menu: the rigatoni alla Zidane.
There's two things you can always chat about in Italy: football and food. Several players even combine these two things. Leonardo Bonucci opened in 2021 the fancy Levè at Corso Galileo Ferraris 45. One of his most illustrious predecessors, Cira Ferrara, brought a piece of his home town Naples to the north of Italy. At Corso Vinzaglio 17 he owns Ristorante da Ciro, a typical Neapolitan pizzeria.
Bonucci's is direct opposite a detached villa. An infamous place, because at Corso Galileo Ferraris 32 used to be the head quarter of Juve, and unfolded the giant Calciopoli match fixing scandal. Juventus' director Luciano Moggi 'arranged' the league titles of 2005 and 2006 by fixing the appoints of designated referees to Juve's matches. By publicized phone taps, they finally got in trouble. It's also the place where former left back Gianluca Pessotto, suffering mental health problems, jumped of the roof - which he miraculously survived - after which he remarkably picked up his job as team manager again.
At the Via Cremona 2 you'll find La Bottega del Tifoso, a real Juventus restaurant. Everything is striped in black and white, from the couches to the floor and the walls. You'd almost get a headache from it, but the food is good and affordable.
Just before kick-off, a sea of black and white led by a lead singer, sing the club hymne ‘Storia Di Un Grande Amore’.
Want to go there? You can order tickets for home games of Juventus at the official website of the club. Ordering is easily, although a visit to Juventus is not particular cheap.
The Allianz Stadium lays in the north of Turin and is good accessible by car via the A55. You can park your car at one of the giant parking lots around the stadium, where you can reserve your spot in advance on the official site.
By public transport you take metro 1 to stop Bernini: from here, you take a shuttle bus to the stadium. Tram stop Pervinche is a 10 minute-walk away from the Allianz Stadium: here passes tramline 3, from where it's a 30 minute-trip to the city centre of Turin.
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