Football Travel: Juve Stabia

Nestled halfway between Pompeii and Sorrento on the famous Gulf of Naples is one of the most scenic football ground one could hope to visit. The Stadio Romeo Menti might sit among housing blocks, but at one end, the ultras in the Curva Sud are shaded by iconic Stone Pines, while to the north, Vesuvius looms large. Welcome to Società Sportiva (S.S.) Juve Stabia of Italy’s third tier, Serie C, in the Campania regional division, Girone C. [Updated April 2024: Juve Stabia have been promoted back to Serie B – bravi a tutti!]

This was one hell of a unique groundhopping day. At lunchtime I was on the summit of Vesuvius, learning all about how and why in AD 79, Pompeii and Herculaneum met very different but equally grewsome fates at the hands of the volcanic eruption.

Later that afternoon I was enjoying a football match 15km south as the crow flies looking back at the menacing grey hulk of Vesuvius on the horizon.

Many people may visit Naples, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast and merely pass through Castellammare di Stabia without giving it a thought. And there didn’t seem to be a great deal going on in the town itself, but I was on a mission to get to S.S. Juve Stabia versus S.S. Turris Calcio from Torre del Greco, a few kilometres north on the same train line.

About S.S. Juve Stabia

The current iteration of Juve Stabia was launched in 2002 after the previous entity of the club suffered bankruptcy, but there has been sporting club of some sort in Stabia as far back as 1907. In 1953, the first club called Società Sportiva Juventus Stabia emerged, named – like its more famous Turin namesake – after the Latin word for ‘youth’.

The club’s stadium, the Stadio Comunale Romeo Menti, was built in 1984 and has an approved capacity of 7,642. It’s got one main stand with a shallow lower tier, where I stood, and a more expansive upper stand, where the media and directors’ boxes. Being on the west side, this stand is sheltered from the sun, unlike the other three open sides. On the south in the Curva Sur, the Juve Stabia ultras gather under the iconic stone pines of the region.

The Menti has an artificial pitch and the experience was quite intimate as you are quite close to the pitch, as you would be at most British grounds. Turris won by two goals to nil. Both time the visitors scored, the fans craned their necks towards the directors’ box apparently looking for a reaction, while some hurled abuse and gestures in that direction.

Visiting S.S. Juve Stabia

The Stadio Comunale Romeo Menti is about 2kms from Castellammare di Stabia station.

To get a matchday ticket in Italy, you have to provide ID for security reasons. This means taking your passport to the ticket office so they can print out your ticket with your name on it for the stewards to check.

I had to ask in my basic holiday Italian where the ticket office was to learn that tickets were actually sold in a bar back down the road I just came from. I spotted a long queue leading out of nearby bar and asked, ‘per I biglietti?’ (for tickets?) – which was answered with a nod. I was conspicuously the only straniero (foreigner) looking to secure tickets but when I got to the booth it didn’t take any longer for the lady to produce my ticket from my passport details. I had missed the first 15 minutes of the game but the stadium is well worth a visit.

I paid €18 to be in the main stand. The whole thing reminded me a little of Parma-meets-Estoril Praia. Juve Stabia – ‘The Wasps’ – play in blue and yellow, a colour combination that works just so well in hot countries.