Delays in the renovation work at Artemio Franchi are currently estimated at around 40–45 days. This issue was recently raised in a City Council meeting, where Massimo Sabatini brought up the matter during a Q&A session with Sports Councillor Letizia Perini.

Weather disruptions

According to city officials, the delay should be made up in the coming months. As per the initial schedule, the installation of 136 piles—forming the foundation and stands of the new Curva Fiesole, currently under construction—was supposed to be completed by the end of February. The work had begun with the Maratona sector.

Perini confirmed that the installation of the final 20 piles was delayed due to adverse weather conditions and heavy rainfall in the Florence region in recent weeks. However, Sabatini criticized the situation, arguing that poor weather conditions should have been anticipated in the planning, which was clearly inadequate.

© Sailko (CC BY 3.0)

Will they be ready for Fiorentina's centenary?

On August 29, 2026, ACF Fiorentina will celebrate its 100th anniversary. However, as club CEO Alessandro Ferrari admitted in an interview with La Nazione, there is a risk that the celebrations will take place in the middle of a construction site. According to the timeline presented in early October—after a meeting between Mayor Sara Funaro and club president Rocco Commisso—the Stadio Franchi was expected to have around 34,500 seats available for the anniversary date. With a year and a half remaining, achieving this target seems increasingly unlikely.

© groundhopping_damenklo

Renovation project under fire from city councilors

Meanwhile, city officials announced the signing of a protocol agreement between the construction companies and labor unions to ensure workers' rights, contract compliance, transparency, safety, and health protection on-site.

Councilors from the Lista Schmidt party used the opportunity to renew their criticism of the project. In a statement, they declared: In the first version of the schedule, there were already 188 days of delays on a project planned for less than 300 days. Now, there's a new, third timeline—this is an absurd game of three-card monte. It would have been wiser to accept the private investor’s offer to fund the project. Moreover, it is strange that the mayor is only now signing an agreement on workers' rights a year after construction began.