The Beatles at the Velodromo Vigorelli, Milan, 24 June 1965

The Velodromo Vigorelli is a 1935 cycling track in Milan. On 24 June 1965 the Beatles played two shows there, their first concerts in Italy, to about 7,000 people in the afternoon and about 20,000 in the evening. The velodrome still stands and now hosts American football. A Beatles plaque was reported placed there in 2015.

A cycling track first

Vigorelli, the bicycle maker, built the velodrome in 1935. It burned after RAF bombing in the Second World War and was rebuilt, and from 1935 to 1967 it was the only track where cycling's hour record was broken. Since 2001 it has carried the name Maspes-Vigorelli. After years of neglect and talk of demolition, a restoration was approved in March 2014. The infield now has artificial turf for American football, used by the Seamen Milano and Rhinos Milano.

The start of the only Italian tour

Milan was the first stop of the Beatles' one Italian tour, which went on to Genoa and then Rome's Teatro Adriano. The impresario Leo Wachter promoted the dates. Before the shows the band met the press at the Grand Hotel Duomo, where photographers took them onto the terrace facing the cathedral spires.

Two shows, neither sold out

About 7,000 people came to the afternoon show and about 20,000 to the evening one (ANSA gives 19,000). Tickets ran from 750 to 3,000 lire, at a time when a newspaper cost 50 lire and a coffee 60.

Peppino di Capri, Fausto Leali and the Novelty, and Maurizio and the New Dada opened. The Beatles played the same 12 songs at both shows. Sources disagree on details: The Beatles Bible gives the start times as 16:30 and 21:30, while Il Giorno and Treccani say about 17:00 and 21:00, and the set is described as anything from 30 to 40 minutes.

Italian writers have often called the reception lukewarm. RAI stayed away. The pictures that survive come mostly from the Publifoto agency; its archive is now held by Intesa Sanpaolo, and 62 of the photographs were shown at the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan from June to September 2025.

The 2015 fan-club plaque

A plaque has been reported. For the 50th anniversary in 2015, the Official Beatles Fan Club Pepperland had plaques made and fixed at the Vigorelli and at the Teatro Adriano in Rome. Its wording and exact position at the velodrome are not documented in the sources, and it is not confirmed whether it is still in place after the restoration works. The venue is a sports ground, so access depends on events.