On Wednesday, August 7, cleanup operations began on the site designated for AS Roma’s long-awaited new stadium. Leading the efforts were twenty officers from the local Roma Capitale police, who arrived at via degli Aromi 7 in Pietralata to serve eviction notices to individuals occupying the land set aside for the development.

When the officers arrived, they found four people on-site: three men and one woman, all over the age of sixty. Fabiana Ciciriello, one of the landowners who had appealed to the Regional Administrative Court (TRA), told the LaPresse news agency, We don’t know what awaits us now. No one warned us, and we don’t know where to go. Just two days earlier, on August 5, the Council of State rejected the landowners' appeal against the eviction order issued by Roma Capitale.

© AS Roma

Urban Planning Director Maurizio Veloccia explained, Eviction is never pleasant. However, it was necessary for the Pietralata lands to return to municipal control. This intervention could have been avoided if the occupants had vacated the land as requested, agreeing to terms with the municipality. Unfortunately, we had to engage in a legal tug of war. This is not the end of the evictions; other plots in the area are also awaiting similar procedures. These actions are inevitable to begin the construction of AS Roma's new stadium. The club hopes to start construction at the end of 2025 and open the new stadium in 2027, marking the club's centenary. The investment is estimated to cost €960 million.