ITALIA | Ice hockey rinks

gragox · January 10th, 2011, 01:21 AM

I am currently writing a rather big work on the factors affecting the distribution of ice hockey rinks within Italy, however, although I am currently moving on, one of the largest problems is the lack of verifiability of the information of arenas which I have gathered mostly myself.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - most importantly, it would be great, if I would be more or less sure that I have a complete list of arenas - that none of them would be missing. Naturally, also additional information (e.g. capacity, type of arena etc.) would be very valuable. Also, any corrections are welcomed.

Legend: dark gray ones are defunct and pink ones are never used for ice hockey purposes. The two red ones are under construction.

Sampei · January 12th, 2011, 11:01 AM

The Catania one is the southernest in Europe, with a capacity of 2,400 seats: http://www.palaghiacciocatania.com/home.htm. You can find some pics too.

Th€@n · January 12th, 2011, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sampei

The Catania one is the southernest in Europe, with a capacity of 2,400 seats: http://www.palaghiacciocatania.com/home.htm. You can find some pics too.

Cavoli ma e' un impianto bellissimo, mai mi sarei aspettato un palaghiaccio in sicilia soprattutto cosi' bello!

Dimmi una cosa, viene utilizzato solo per il pattinaggio? Non vedo linee ne' per l'hockey ne' per il curling...

Sampei · January 12th, 2011, 06:45 PM

Effettivamente credo sia utilizzato solo per il pattinaggio. Pratica a livello professionistico di hockey su ghiaccio e curling non credo ce ne sia, qui. C'è ed è molto praticato l'hockey su prato, ma logicamente in un altro impianto.

gragox · January 13th, 2011, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sampei

Effettivamente credo sia utilizzato solo per il pattinaggio. Pratica a livello professionistico di hockey su ghiaccio e curling non credo ce ne sia, qui. C'è ed è molto praticato l'hockey su prato, ma logicamente in un altro impianto.

Well at least it seems the rink has a standard size, which means that it may be used for hockey-purposes as well.

So as for now I will just mark it pink on my data table.

Anyhow, thank you for the info. As a matter of fact, I had noted the arena of Catania, and consider it to be one of the most beautiful arenas there are.

BigBitto · January 24th, 2011, 05:04 PM

Good job gragox! I play ice hockey so i know many of the ice rinks in northern Italy, I have only a couple of corrections to make: the rink of Bergamo has got the roof but the sides are open, and Milan's palazzo del ghiaccio has been closed in early 2000's. There was even another ice rink in Milan, called "centro sportivo Saini", but it closed before i could see it, and now there's only the inline hockey rink. I hope to have been useful!

gragox · January 24th, 2011, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBitto

Good job gragox! I play ice hockey so i know many of the ice rinks in northern Italy, I have only a couple of corrections to make: the rink of Bergamo has got the roof but the sides are open, and Milan's palazzo del ghiaccio has been closed in early 2000's. There was even another ice rink in Milan, called "centro sportivo Saini", but it closed before i could see it, and now there's only the inline hockey rink. I hope to have been useful!

Thanks for the help.

Do you mean that Pal Agora and Palasesto San Giovanni are not used for hockey-purposes?

BigBitto · January 24th, 2011, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gragox

Thanks for the help.

Do you mean that Pal Agora and Palasesto San Giovanni are not used for hockey-purposes?

No no, both the Agorà and the Palasesto are used for hockey purposes (I currently play in Palasesto), it's the ice rink of "via piranesi" which closed in early 2000's, the one called "palazzo del ghiaccio" in your list. Do you play ice hockey too?

gragox · January 25th, 2011, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBitto

Do you play ice hockey too?

Well, I have played it literally a few times on a frozen lake (yes, that's possible in Latvia

). But, no, not really. However, I have been following hockey for as long as I can recall, and during the past two years I have also been writing about hockey for numerous websites.

Pitz · May 19th, 2012, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sampei

The Catania one is the southernest in Europe, with a capacity of 2,400 seats: http://www.palaghiacciocatania.com/home.htm. You can find some pics too.

I guess you are wrong, the southernmost hockey rink of Europe should be in Las Palmas / Gran Canaria

http://www.laprovincia.es/las-palmas...os/271926.html

There was even the worldcup of hockey (division C)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Wo..._Championships

And in the 70s there was a professionel hockey team in Las Palmas that played in the Top Division of Spain, but lack of money forced them to quit.

gragox · December 11th, 2012, 06:29 PM

Today I came across the paper I wrote at the time and remembered that I started a topic here - to keep your expectations low, it was a high school assignment. Just wanted to share.

As I already stated in the introductory post, I wrote a paper about the factors that have influenced the distribution of ice hockey rinks within Italy, trying to grasp some patterns and reasons for them.

To keep it short - the three main factors for the development of ice hockey in Italy (and just about any place on Earth) are economy, tradition and climate, which all function in a very close connection. Unfortunately, I couldn't really evaluate which of those factors are more significant, as I didn't have ground for such speculation.

Economy and technology (indoor rinks, cheaper chillers, synthetic ice) were the two main reasons which have helped ice hockey to expand in the bigger cities. Such expansion could eventually gain larger popularity of the sport among Italians. Obviously, it is way more beneficial if a hockey (figure skating)-only arena and not a multifunctional one is built.

Also, when I started the work, I had a suspicion that the cluster in South Tyrol is closely connected to the many Austrians living there (taking into account that in general Austrians have a stronger ice hockey tradition than Italians), to which I found no proof - couldn't get data on registered players per province, however the number of arenas per population was rather similar.

As for climate, it has to stay pretty much under 15 degrees for two weeks, for the ice to possibly get prepared on outdoor rinks. In Northern Italy (Bolzano, Bergamo) ice hockey on ponds could be played 80-100 days per year and it would cost nothing. The possibility of purchasing a chiller means that you can theoretically play outdoor hockey even in Catania, however it costs a lot - I talked to a manager of an outdoor rink in Latvia, he stated that the electricity bill for the two-week freezing process cost ~3100 euro (in Italy electricity is almost two times more expensive than in Latvia), however, in Latvia you can soon turn off the chiller, as the temperature decreases below -2.

By the way, the price of equipment in Italian ice hockey retailers is mindblowing.

This is the list of arenas from the original post put on a map.

January 10th, 2011, 01:21 AM	#1
gragox Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Riga Posts: 49 Likes (Received): 0	ITALIA \| Ice hockey rinks I am currently writing a rather big work on the factors affecting the distribution of ice hockey rinks within Italy, however, although I am currently moving on, one of the largest problems is the lack of verifiability of the information of arenas which I have gathered mostly myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated - most importantly, it would be great, if I would be more or less sure that I have a complete list of arenas - that none of them would be missing. Naturally, also additional information (e.g. capacity, type of arena etc.) would be very valuable. Also, any corrections are welcomed. Legend: dark gray ones are defunct and pink ones are never used for ice hockey purposes. The two red ones are under construction.

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January 12th, 2011, 11:01 AM	#2
Sampei melior de cinere surgo Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Catania Posts: 4,472 Likes (Received): 110	The Catania one is the southernest in Europe, with a capacity of 2,400 seats: http://www.palaghiacciocatania.com/home.htm. You can find some pics too.

January 12th, 2011, 06:45 PM	#4
Sampei melior de cinere surgo Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Catania Posts: 4,472 Likes (Received): 110	Effettivamente credo sia utilizzato solo per il pattinaggio. Pratica a livello professionistico di hockey su ghiaccio e curling non credo ce ne sia, qui. C'è ed è molto praticato l'hockey su prato, ma logicamente in un altro impianto.

January 24th, 2011, 05:04 PM	#6
BigBitto Porta Venezia user Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Milano Posts: 136 Likes (Received): 1	Good job gragox! I play ice hockey so i know many of the ice rinks in northern Italy, I have only a couple of corrections to make: the rink of Bergamo has got the roof but the sides are open, and Milan's palazzo del ghiaccio has been closed in early 2000's. There was even another ice rink in Milan, called "centro sportivo Saini", but it closed before i could see it, and now there's only the inline hockey rink. I hope to have been useful!

December 11th, 2012, 06:29 PM	#11
gragox Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Riga Posts: 49 Likes (Received): 0	Today I came across the paper I wrote at the time and remembered that I started a topic here - to keep your expectations low, it was a high school assignment. Just wanted to share. As I already stated in the introductory post, I wrote a paper about the factors that have influenced the distribution of ice hockey rinks within Italy, trying to grasp some patterns and reasons for them. To keep it short - the three main factors for the development of ice hockey in Italy (and just about any place on Earth) are economy, tradition and climate, which all function in a very close connection. Unfortunately, I couldn't really evaluate which of those factors are more significant, as I didn't have ground for such speculation. Economy and technology (indoor rinks, cheaper chillers, synthetic ice) were the two main reasons which have helped ice hockey to expand in the bigger cities. Such expansion could eventually gain larger popularity of the sport among Italians. Obviously, it is way more beneficial if a hockey (figure skating)-only arena and not a multifunctional one is built. Also, when I started the work, I had a suspicion that the cluster in South Tyrol is closely connected to the many Austrians living there (taking into account that in general Austrians have a stronger ice hockey tradition than Italians), to which I found no proof - couldn't get data on registered players per province, however the number of arenas per population was rather similar. As for climate, it has to stay pretty much under 15 degrees for two weeks, for the ice to possibly get prepared on outdoor rinks. In Northern Italy (Bolzano, Bergamo) ice hockey on ponds could be played 80-100 days per year and it would cost nothing. The possibility of purchasing a chiller means that you can theoretically play outdoor hockey even in Catania, however it costs a lot - I talked to a manager of an outdoor rink in Latvia, he stated that the electricity bill for the two-week freezing process cost ~3100 euro (in Italy electricity is almost two times more expensive than in Latvia), however, in Latvia you can soon turn off the chiller, as the temperature decreases below -2. By the way, the price of equipment in Italian ice hockey retailers is mindblowing. This is the list of arenas from the original post put on a map.