The Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore continues to stand out as a cutting-edge facility in the Italian football landscape. In view of the 2025/26 season, which will see the U.S. Sassuolo Calcio and A.C. Reggiana 1919 play in the Serie A Enilive and Serie BKT championships respectively, the Reggio Emilia stadium has been equipped with a brand-new, fully natural playing surface. The turf was created by Paradello, a leading Italian company in the natural grass carpets and sports facilities sector, using the NorthBridge grass variety, the same type that will be used for some of the pitches of the upcoming 2026 World Cup in North America.
This marks a significant shift: the transition from a hybrid system to a 100% natural turf, selected after an in-depth study of the best available agronomic solutions. The NorthBridge variety, never before used in an Italian stadium and created by Oklahoma State University, was chosen for its high performance in terms of tolerance to low temperatures, high vegetative density, prolonged persistence bright green colour during the winter season, and excellent resistance to mechanical wear. NorthBridge stands out for its ability to root easily and for the strength of its turf, which remains uniform and performs well even under heavy use, such as at the Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore, which regularly hosts more than one match a week. Thanks to these characteristics, NorthBridge is used in high-level sports facilities and on golf courses, where extremely high performance and visual standards are required.
"We are proud to be the first in Italy to install a fully natural turf using the NorthBridge variety," says Andrea Lorenzi, stadium manager Mapei Stadium. This choice marks an important milestone in the journey of research and innovation that we have undertaken in recent years and which allows us to offer teams and players an increasingly high standard of quality, while fully respecting the environment".
"For us at Paradello, it is a great source of pride to contribute to a project of excellence like that of the Mapei Stadium," says Gianni Casini, Paradello's Professional Fields Maintenance Manager. "For more than thirty years we have been providing our experience and expertise to the creation of natural sports fields. The adoption of the NorthBridge variety represents an important challenge and a real innovation within the Italian landscape: we are confident that it will guarantee the highest agronomic and functional performance throughout the entire sports season," he says.
The approximately five tons of synthetic fibres from the old turf of the Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore, will be completely recycled for a recovery project, in line with Mapei's social and environmental commitment.
Ongoing innovation in pitch care and management
The resurfacing of the playing surface is part of a broader path of innovation that has seen the Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore constantly invest in cutting-edge technologies for the care and management of the pitch.
In the first half of 2025, innovation focused on turf sanitisation with the introduction of a battery-powered SGL machine equipped with ultraviolet rays, capable of sterilising leaves and reducing fungal pressure in a fully sustainable manner. At the same time, a new lighting system was implemented using the latest generation of SGL LED lamps for turf treatment: these optimise grass growth and health while reducing energy consumption and maintenance costs. Equipped with an integrated computer, the devices monitor and regulate climatic parameters and soil temperature in real time, ensuring optimal conditions even in the presence of ice or high humidity.
Last year, an advanced fertigation system was introduced, capable of precisely calibrating water pH and salinity, thus ensuring optimal turf growth without stressing the plants. The management approach has become more efficient and sustainable thanks to a reduction in the number of machines - from thirteen to eight - resulting in less weight, reduced compaction, improved safety during operations, and lower maintenance costs.
In 2023, the focus was on microclimate control, thanks to the installation of the latest generation of climate fans, which significantly reduced the onset of fungal diseases, especially during warmer months. At the same time, water management solutions were introduced, such as underground probes and Green Go weather stations, which constantly monitor water availability and enable targeted irrigation, avoiding waste.
In 2022, on the other hand, highly specialised monitoring tools were introduced, such as the Propitch equipment, recognised by UEFA and FIFA, which allows periodic testing and guarantees consistently high-quality standards.
These technological innovations are complemented by targeted agronomic choices, such as the use of USGA silica sand substrates and Mapesoil, a Mapei product specifically created to stabilise soils used for the sub-bases of sports surfaces, to encourage correct water infiltration and retention, the selection of high-playability, low-water-demand grass species , rational fertilisation supported by salinity probes, the constant use of biostimulants and manual weed management, thus avoiding the use of chemical herbicides.
A model of excellence and sustainability
The Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore thus confirms itself as a reference point for quality, innovation and attention to the environment, thanks to the constant commitment of Mapei and its partners. The introduction of the new NorthBridge turf, together with the most advanced management technologies, consolidates the Reggio Emilia facility’s position as a model of excellence in Italian and international football.
