The governing body of Italian rugby, the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) is pushing ahead with its World Cup candidacy. In what is a second attempt at securing Rugby World Cup hosting rights, Italy has listed twelve stadiums spread around the country.

The Central European country hopes to become the first ever European nation too host alone. Since the creation of the Rugby World Cup in 1987 every second tournament has been staged in Europe. England did so in 1991 with France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all sub-hosting. In 1999 Wales did so with the other four also allocated matches. France 2007 included Scotland and Wales while Wales again hosted matches during England 2015.

The Italy 2023 would thereby be unique for Europe on two fronts. Firstly it would be a first Rugby World Cup hosted by one nation. Secondly it would see Italy host Rugby World Cup fixtures for the first time ever.

The FIR had identified the capital, Rome as the center-piece. Rome is the only city to have two stadiums included in the bid. This follows on an established pattern from prior Rugby World Cups. In 2003 Sydney had two venues, followed by two in Paris in 2007 and two in Auckland in 2011. London then had three in 2015.

Rome’s nominated venues are the Stadio Olimpico and the Stadio Flaminio. They are the same two venues to have been used for Six Nations home internationals by the FIR. They have also tended to be used for hosting one November International per year. Los Pumas, for instance, have played in both.

The venues listed in the bid are genuinely nationwide. North of Rome there are seven host venues. They are Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Padua, Torino and Udine. The south has Bari and Naples in addition to the Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo which gives Sicily a host city.

An additional feature is the use of big cities. All expect Padua hosted FIFA World Cup matches in the 1990 tournament. The FIR have nominated Padua in place of Verona, a city which hosted Italy vs Argentina in 2010.