The city's football history began in the early 1900s at Prati di Caprara, a large green space two kilometres outside Porta San Felice, used for grazing and military exercises. The land was granted to young people who asked for it for training and amateur matches by the shepherd who rented it. The goals were assembled and dismantled as needed, and the lines were only marked when a real match with another club was to be played.
In 1911, the Cesoia field outside Porta San Vitale was chosen to participate in the First Division championship. It was equipped with fencing, fixed goals and a rudimentary wooden grandstand. The changing rooms were created using two rooms in the adjacent restaurant.
In 1913, the new Sterlino pitch was built in Via Toscana, where the foundations were laid for the first championship title in 1924-25: a modern pitch with a majestic entrance and covered stands with changing rooms underneath. However, the pitch was so sloped that there was a difference in height of more than one metre between the two goals, a feature to which Bologna adapted so well that they lost only five matches on this pitch in fourteen years of league play.
The growth of football in Bologna, which took place on these early pitches, would eventually reach its peak at the Littoriale stadium.
CAPTIONS
1 - The friendly match at Prati di Caprara against Inter, Italian champions, 1910.
2 - Gameplay at the Cesoia pitch, before 1913.
3 - Crowd at the Sterlino pitch, 1924.
4 - Bologna's last match at the Sterlino pitch, 8 May 1927.