Italy's top domestic league, the
Serie A, is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world and it is often depicted as the most tactical national football league.[15]Serie A clubs have seen success in the
Champions League (formerly the European Cup), the premier
European club competition, winning it twelve times. Italy's club sides have won 48 major European trophies, making them the second most successful nation in European football.
Serie A hosts three of the world's most famous clubs as
Juventus,
Milan and
Inter, all founding members of the
G-14, a group which represented the largest and most prestigious European football clubs;
Serie A was the only league to produce three founding members. Juventus, Milan and Inter, along with
Roma,
Fiorentina,
Lazio and historically
Parma, but now
Napoli, are known as the Seven Sisters of Italian football.[16] The Italian word for soccer is calcio, "kick", taken from the name of Italy's traditional football games, as opposed to being adapted from the English name football or soccer, as in most other languages. Often, Italian children can be seen playing on the street with friends and relatives.
The history of football in Italy gives much of the explanation behind why it has remained such a popular sport today. The first record of an Italian football team goes back to 1893. This team was named
FC Genoa. The sport was brought to Italy through
the Romans, who used to play a very similar game called
harpastum, which included two teams aiming to score on their opponents side (hands could be used along with feet). Years later, the
Renaissance brought about big changes for not only the art and culture of Italy, but also for sport. Specifically,
Florence was the spot where the most changes occurred. Football of the past was different from that of today as teams were much larger with 27 people. Also, the games were only 50 minutes long. Today, the games consist of two 45 minute halves. The Italy National team first began playing in 1910 in the FIFA World Cup.[17] To the surprise of many fans, the Italy National Team did not qualify for the tournament in 2017. This was the first time in sixty years that the team did not make the World Cup after losing to
Sweden. The loss was published in popular sport newspapers in Italy such as La Gazzetta dello Sport, which is one of the largest selling newspapers in Italy.[18]
Stadiums have also become more than a place to watch a football game today. All across Italy, stadiums now include various different things such as museums, shops, and restaurants for the people attending the game to enjoy. Italian football stadiums also host other venues such as concerts, rugby matches, and field and track.[19] Italy takes pride in their football stadiums and have some of the most well known in the world. Most Italian stadiums have stadium tours where children six and under are allowed to go for free . The
city of Milan stadium, which is also known as the
San Siro stadium, has the biggest seating capacity in Italy with 80,018 seats.[20] The stadium is also known in the country as "La Scala del Calcio." It is also known as the "Giuseppe Meazza" stadium after the Italian star,
Giuseppe Meazza.[19] The San Siro stadium has hosted four
UEFA Champions League finals. This stadium is where the rival teams
AC Milan and
Internazionale play. The two clubs meet twice a year and the matches between these two clubs are known as the Derby della Madonnina. It is called Derby della Madonnina in honour of one of the main sights in the city of Milan, the statue of the
Virgin Mary on the top of the
Duomo, which is often referred to as the Madonnina ("Little Madonna" in Italian). Another famous stadium in Italy is the
Stadio Olimpico. This stadium is the second largest in Italy and is where the rival teams
AS Roma and
SS Lazio play. The two clubs meet twice a year and the matches between these two clubs are known as the Derby della Capitale (Derby of the Capital). Also, the Stadio Olimpico holds the
Coppa Italia Final.[20]
Being a football country, Italy has some all-time great players that have played for them. More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing in
Serie A than any other league in the world, except
La Liga.
Fabio Cannavaro played professional football from 1992 to 2011. He is among only one of three defenders to have been named FIFA's Player of the Year. Cannavaro won the award in 2006 which is the same year he also helped Italy reach the finals of the World Cup. Another one of Italy's all-time great football players was
Dino Zoff. Zoff played goalie for Italy, and at 40 years old he became the oldest player to win the World Cup. Also, Dino holds the record for the longest time without giving up a goal at an international tournament with 1,142 minutes. His club play includes six Serie A titles. After retiring from playing football, Dino later became a coach. Another great Italian football player was Giuseppe Meazza. Meazza scored 33 goals in his 53 World Cup appearances. Meazza has the second most goals scored for Italy all time since he is only two goals behind
Gigi Riva. Giuseppe won two World Cup's with Italy as well as winning three Serie A titles and one Coppa Italia title.[19]
The
Italy men's national water polo team represents
Italy in men's international
water polo (pallanuoto in
Italian) competitions. The national men's team has the nickname of Settebello, a reference to both the Italian card game
scopa and a standard water polo team having seven players.[24] The Italian men's water polo team has won 8
Olympic medals, 7
World Championships, 5
World Cup, 11
European Championships medals and 3
World League medals, making them one of the
most successful men's water polo teams in the world. They have won a combined twelve championships in those five competitions, with the World League, the last competition which Italy won in 2022.
On the second Sunday of October in the
Gulf of Trieste the
Barcolana is held: established in 1969, it is today the largest
regatta in the world.[27] The Barcolana became the
Guinness World Record holder in February 2019 when it was named "the greatest sailing race" with its 2,689 boats and over 16,000 sailors on the starting line.[28] The Barcolana is organized by the yacht club Società Velica di
Barcola e Grignano. Thanks to its particular formula, the Barcolana is a unique event on the international sailing stage: on the same starting line expert sailors and sailing lovers race side by side on boats of different sizes divided into several divisions according to their overall length.[29] Still on the subject of
boat racing, another noteworthy race is the
Regatta of the Historical Marine Republics. The Regatta of the Historical
Maritime Republics is a sporting event of historical re-enactment, established in 1955 with the aim of recalling the rivalry of the most famous Italian maritime republics: those of
Republic of Amalfi,
Republic of Pisa,
Republic of Genoa and
Republic of Venice, during which four rowing crews representing each of the republics compete against each other. This event, held under the patronage of the
President of Italy,[30] takes place every year on a day between the end of May and the beginning of July, and is hosted in rotation between these cities.
In 1972,
synchronized swimming (nuoto sincronizzato in
Italian) took hold in Italy, thanks to the commitment of a swimming teacher at the Lanciani swimming pool in Rome, who decided to let boys and girls try to train the alternating
backstroke, rhythmizing the movements.[31] In 1976 the first synchronized swimming team was formed, the "clams", made up of seven girls and one boy.[31] At the Italian swimming pools athletes and swimming teachers began to study and practice the discipline, teaching it and making the sport grow.
Towards the end of the 19th century the
diving (tuffi in
Italian) also spread to Italy and in particular to Rome where the
Ponte Milvio became an ideal place for acrobatics on the
Tiber.[32] In Italy, the first national diving championship was held in 1900 in
Milan, at
Bagni di Diana.[32] Notable Italian diver is
Klaus Dibiasi, while noteworthy Italian
free-diver is
Enzo Maiorca.[22]
Cycling (ciclismo in
Italian) is a well-represented sport in Italy.
Bicycle racing is a familiar sport in the country.[38]Italians have won the
World Cycling Championshipmore than any other country, except Belgium. The
Giro d'Italia is a world-famous long-distance cycling race held every May, and constitutes one of the three
Grand Tours, along with the
Tour de France and the
Vuelta a España, each of which last approximately three weeks. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1909, except during the two
world wars.[39] As the Giro gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened, and the peloton expanded from primarily Italian participation to riders from all over the world. The Giro is a
UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly
UCI WorldTeams, with some additional teams invited as 'wild cards'.[40][41] The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the general classification and wears the
pink jersey.
Two of the five '
Monuments', the oldest and most prestigious one-day races on the cycling calendar, are located in Italy:
Milan–San Remo, held in March, and
Giro di Lombardia, held in September or October. The Milan–San Remo, also called "The Spring classic" or "La Classicissima", is an annual
road cycling race between
Milan and
Sanremo, in
Northwest Italy. With a distance of 298 km (~185.2 miles) it is the longest professional one-day race in modern cycling. It is the first major
classic race of the season. The first edition was held in
1907.[42] The Giro di Lombardia, officially Il Lombardia, is a
cycling race in
Lombardy,
Italy.[43] It is traditionally the last of the five '
Monuments' of the season, considered to be one of the most prestigious one-day events in cycling, and one of the last events on the
UCI World Tour calendar. Nicknamed the Classica delle foglie morte ("the Classic of the falling (dead) leaves"), it is the most important
Autumn Classic in cycling. The race's most famous climb is the
Madonna del Ghisallo in the race finale. Because of its demanding course, the race is considered a climbers classic, favouring climbers with a strong sprint finish.
Rugby union (rugby a 15 in
Italian) enjoys a good level of popularity, especially in the north of the country. From the 2010–11 season, Italy has had two teams in the
Pro12, previously an all-
Celtic competition, involving teams from
Ireland,
Scotland, and
Wales.[44] To accommodate this move, the country's
National Championship of Excellence effectively became a semi-professional developmental competition. The two Pro12 sides took up Italy's existing places in the elite Europe-wide club competition, then known as the Heineken Cup and now as the
European Rugby Champions Cup, and four Eccellenza sides compete in the second-tier
European Rugby Challenge Cup. Italy's
national team competes since 2000 in the
Six Nations Championship, and is a regular at the
Rugby World Cup, despite having yet to pass the group stage. Italy are classed as a tier-one nation by
World Rugby.[45]
Rugby union's traditional heartland consisted of the small country towns in the
Po Valley, and other parts of
Northern Italy.[48] One version says that Italian workers returning from France, particularly the south, introduced the game there, and gave it a significant rural/working class base, which still exists in towns such as
Treviso and
Rovigo.[48] A demonstration game was also played in 1910, in
Turin between
Racing Club Paris and Servette of
Geneva. The
Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Italian Rugby Federation and is contested by 10 teams, following the Italian federation's decision to name Peroni as the official partner of the Top10 competition. Notable Italian players include
Ivan Francescato,
Paolo Vaccari,
Carlo Checchinato,
Massimo Giovanelli,
Mauro and
Mirco Bergamasco, and
Sergio Parisse.[48]
Tennis has a significant following near courts and by television. Italian professional tennis players are always in the top 100 world's ranking of male and female players. The
Rome Masters, founded in 1930, is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.[49]Beach tennis with paddle racquet was invented by Italians, and is practiced by many people across the country.[50]
Alpine skiing or ski (sci in
Italian) is a very popular sport in Italy, with more than 2,000,000 skiers, most of them in the northern regions near the
Alps and in the central provinces near the
Apennine Mountains.[53] Italian skiers have achieved good results in the Winter Olympic Games, World Cup, and World Championship, most notably
Zeno Colò,
Gustavo Thoeni, who won 4 Overall World Cups between 1970 and 1975;
Piero Gros, who was Overall World Cup champion in 1974, and
Alberto Tomba who won the Overall World Cup in 1995. Tomba,
Deborah Compagnoni, and
Isolde Kostner received many medals in different editions of the Winter Olympic Games.
Giorgio Rocca and
Manfred Mölgg won the Slalom World Cup in 2006 and 2008 respectively, whilst
Giuliano Razzoli was Olympic slalom champion in
2010.
Figure skating (pattinaggio di figura in
Italian) is a popular sport and professional figure skaters often starring in events of exhibition. Notable Italian athlete in figure skating is
Carolina Kostner.[56]
Bobsleigh (bob in
Italian) is very followed, because Italian bobsledder
Eugenio Monti was the most successful athlete in the international history of this sport.[57]
In Italy,
bodybuilding is at the 10th place in the ranking of most popular sports, even considering the high number of people who engage in
body building gym, as amateur, just to keep fit themselves.[59]
Hippodrome of San Siro (
Italian: Ippodromo di San Siro) is a
horse racing venue in the city of
Milan, which takes its name from the
neighborhood of the same name in which it is located. Designed in 1913 to replace the then-used Trotter in Via Padova, the
Hippodrome of San Siro was inaugurated on 25 July 1920, with its construction work being slowed down due to the
World War I.[66] In 1999 a statue of Leonardo's horse was placed in the square in front of the racecourse.[67] It is owned by Snaitech.[68]
Baseball is a growing, minor sport in Italy.[71][72] Introduced to Italy by American servicemen during World War II, professional baseball leagues were not established until after the war. The
Italy national baseball team is traditionally ranked as the second best team in Europe, behind the
Dutch national team.[73] Italy's performance during the Olympics has been consistently high for a European team, but is noted for its reliance on American and Latino players of Italian descent. The
highest level of play in Italy today is considered to be on par with
Class A ball in the United States.[74] The
Italian Baseball League is the highest level of professional baseball in Italy.[75]
Cricket
The
Italy national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Italy in international cricket matches. They have been an associate member of the
International Cricket Council since 1995, having previously been an affiliate member since 1984.[76] The team is administered by the
Federazione Cricket Italiana (Italian Cricket Federation). They are currently ranked 25th in the world by the
ICC, and are ranked fifth amongst European non-Test teams.[77] The Italy national cricket team has won several European Cricket tournaments, and the popularity of
cricket is rising. All the Italian cricketers are home grown cricketers, and they had a well off position in the recent European Indoor Cricket Tournament and the
European Cricket Championship. They recently participated in the ICC
World Cricket League Division 4.
Handball
The
Serie A is the name of the highest level
handball (pallamano in
Italian) league of
Italy.
Pallamano Trieste is the championship's most successful club with seventeen titles. The
Serie A1 is the premier division of the
Italian women's handball national league. Established in 1970, it is currently contested by 13 clubs.[78]PF Cassano Magnago is the championship's most successful club with eleven titles in a row between 1986 and 1996, while
Jomi Salerno has been the most successful team in the 21st century so far with seven titles between 2004 and 2019.
Italian Hockey League - Serie A, formerly known as Serie A, is the top tier of professional ice hockey in
Italy, which first began play in 1925. They are conducted under the authority of the
Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio (FISG). The league initially merged with the
Inter-National League to become the
Alps Hockey League in 2016.[81] Italian teams in the Alps Hockey League also compete in the Italian Hockey League - Serie A. The league was known as Elite.A during the 2013–14 season,[82] and as Italian Hockey League - Elite during the 2017-2018 season.[83]
They are followed by the champions of the present,
Max Biaggi,
Loris Capirossi, and in particular
Valentino Rossi, who has won 89 Grands Prix and 9 World Championships, being the only motorcycle racer to have won their world titles in 4 classes: one each in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc, and six in the MotoGP.[96] The
Bianchi,
Aprilia,
Beta,
Cagiva,
Gilera,
Guzzi,
MV Agusta,
TM Racing,
Benelli e
Ducati brands have won the most prestigious races and won world championships in all categories.
Tony Cairoli is the most titled Italian in Motocross, while in the women's category (WMX)
Kiara Fontanesi is the most titled in the world, with six championships won, four of which were in a row.
Powerboating (motonautica in
Italian) has a long history linked to the Italian country. With the founding of the Italian Motorboat Federation in 1923, whose president was
Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Genoa, this sport immediately attracted prominent personalities of the time with frequenters of the first major events including
Guglielmo Marconi,
Benito Mussolini and
Gabriele D'Annunzio. This sport in Italy has grown in particular from the 1970s onwards and counts
Angelo Moratti and subsequently
Massimo Moratti among the presidents of its federation. In 1929 the Pavia-Venice Raid was born, the longest powerboat race in the world at the time. In the 1930s, Gabbriele D'Annunzio offered the Oltranza Cup for the
Gardone Riviera races. The main centers of the Italian Power Force settled in the Lombardy area and in particular in
Como,
Milan.[98]
Renato Molinari is one of the greatest in Italian powerboating, a driver with exceptional skills, multiple
world champion in Formula 1 and in many other international categories. More recently,
Guido Cappellini is a champion who, in the most important international class, Formula 1, has won more world championships than anyone else in history.[97] In modern powerboating, Alex Carella (four-time world champion) and Francesco Cantando race among the top ranks. In addition to the motorboat Formula 1, the
Aquabike World Championship (jet ski) was held in the waters of
Piedmont,
Lombardy,
Apulia, and
Sardinia.
Golf
Golf is played by over 90,000 registered players, as of 2021.[99] There are several male and female professional players, with notable current players including
Costantino Rocca, the brothers
Edoardo, and
Francesco Molinari, and
Matteo Manassero. The most important tournament is the
Italian Open. The Molinari brothers won the
World Cup of Golf in
2009. The Ryder Cup 2023 will also take place in Rome for the first time.
At the turn of the millennium, Italy showed a growing quality in the discipline, with
Susanna Marchesi finishing 9th at the Individual All Around competition, as well as the team winning 6th place in the
2000 Summer Olympics. Italy won the silver medal at the
2004 Summer Olympics and came in at 4th place at the
2008 Summer Olympics. They also collected a string of medals throughout the 2005–2008 Olympic cycle.[107] At the 2009 Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in
Mie, Japan, the team soared to first place, winning the gold medal and becoming the new queens, a feat they achieved again at the 2010 Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in Moscow. The celebration of Italian gymnastics is because they are among the best squads in the world, facing competitions against the Eastern European block of nations:
Belarus, Russia, and
Bulgaria.
Vanessa Ferrari was multiple world and European champion of artistic gymnastics.
Although
lacrosse tournaments and competitions have been held in Italy since 2002,[110] the first official edition of the championship dates back to the 2009-2010 season. The most successful team is the
Pellicani Bocconi of
Milan. Lacrosse in Italy is governed by the
Italian Lacrosse Federation, which was founded in 2007. The
Italy national lacrosse team has qualified for the
World Lacrosse Championship four consequtive times (2006-2018). At the most recent event (
2018), it finished 16th out of 46.
Floorball
The Italian
Floorball Championship is divided into two different leagues, Campo Grande ("great field"), which takes place in a field of 40 m (130 ft) x 20 m (66 ft), and Campo Piccolo ("small field"), which takes place in a field of 24 m (79 ft) x 16 m (52 ft). In the
2020 Men's World Floorball Championships the
Italy men's national floorball team did not pass the qualifications and did not pass to the final stage of the tournament. In 2022 it holds the 33rd position in the
IFF World Ranking.[111]
Several traditional team
ball sports, called sferistici in
Italian language, are played in
sphaeristerium, or sferisterio in Italian language, so also in open playing fields since 1555 and when Antonio Scaino from
Salò regulated
pallone col bracciale.[117] There are many modalities of these sports: pallone col bracciale, pallapugno, pallapugno leggera, palla elastica,
palla, and
tamburello. Professional players compete in the national circuit of tournaments and international championships.
The traditional sport of bocce is a popular sport and pastime. Bocce is a
ball sport belonging to the
boules family. Developed into its present form in
Italy, it is closely related to British
bowls and French pétanque, with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the
Roman Empire. Bocce is played around western, southern and southeastern
Europe, as well as in overseas areas with historical
Italian immigrant population, including
Australia,
North America, and
South America, principally
Argentina and the southern Brazilian state of
Rio Grande do Sul. Initially played just by the Italian immigrants, the game has slowly become more popular with their descendants and more broadly.
Cue sports are played on traditional
billiard table in many forms:
five-pins,
goriziana (nine pins), and
boccette. There are almost 6,000,000 amateur players and professional players who compete in national circuit of tournaments and international championships.[118]
Palio or annual athletic contest is followed very much, because every comune celebrates ancient events in these competitions. The most famous in the world is
Palio di Siena.[119] The first Palio di Siena took place in 1633.[113] Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen contrade of Siena, or city wards. The
Corteo Storico of Siena, a
pageant to the sound of the
March of the Palio, precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world.
The
Palio di Asti is a traditional
Italian festival of
medieval origin that culminates with a bareback
horse race. The race has been run each year since the 13th century.[120] The earliest record, cited by Guglielmo Ventura,[121] dates from the third quarter of the 13th century. It has taken place every year, with the exception of a period in the 1870s and a 30 year interruption in the 20th century. Since 1988, the race has taken place in a triangular 'square' in the center of
Asti, the Piazza Alfieri.
The
Palio of Ferrara is a competition among the 8 neighborhoods (contrade) of the town of
Ferrara,
Emilia-Romagna,
Italy. Four of these neighborhoods correspond to four wards located inside the medieval town fortifications. The remaining four correspond to external boroughs. After a long interruption the tradition was briefly reenacted in 1933, stopped again during
World War II and eventually restarted in 1967.[124][125][126][127]
The
Palio di Parma is a festival that is held once a year in the northern Italian town of
Parma, and traces back to the ancient "Scarlet Run"".[128] The origin of this festival can be reconducted to 1314[129] as reported by Giovanni Del Giudice in the Chronicon Parmense.[130] The festival was held every year on 15 August, from the 14th century to
Napoleon's arrival in the 19th century.[131] Starting from 1978 the competition was brought to a new life.[129]
Calcio Fiorentino (also referred to as calcio storico "historic football") is an early form of
football (
soccer and
rugby) that originated during the
Middle Ages in
Italy.[114] Once widely played, the sport is thought to have started in the Piazza Santa Croce in
Florence. There it became known as the giuoco del calcio fiorentino ("Florentine kick game") or simply calcio, which is now also the name for
association football in the
Italian language. The game may have started as a revival of the Roman sport of
harpastum. This traditional sporting event attracts tourists from all over the world.[115]
Saracen Joust of
Arezzo is an ancient game of
chivalry. It dates back to the
Middle Ages. It was born as an exercise for military training. This tournament was regularly held in
Arezzo between the 16th century and the end of the 17th century, when memorable
jousts in baroque style were organized. The joust – which became a typical tradition of Arezzo at the beginning of the 17th century – declined progressively during the 18th century and eventually disappeared, at least in its "noble" version. After a brief popular revival between the 18th and 19th century, the joust was interrupted after 1810 to reappear only in 1904 in the wake of the Middle Ages reappraisal operated by
Romanticism. Finally, the joust was definitely restored in 1931 as a form of historical re-enactment set in the 14th century, and quickly acquired a competitive character. Saracen Joust attracts tourists from all over the world.[116]
The
Giostra della Quintana was a historical
jousting tournament in
Foligno, central Italy. It was revived as a modern festival in 1946.[132] The tournament event takes place in June (1st Challenge) during a Saturday night and September (the counter-challenge) the 2nd or 3rd Sunday of September, and is proceeded each time by a festival with a 17th-century costumed parade. The definition of Quintana comes from the 5th road of the
Roman military camps, where the soldiers were trained in
lance fighting.[132] This is the origin of the tournament's name, but the first definition and documented "Quintana" as a knights' jousting tournament during a festival, dates back to 1448. In 1613 the build-up to the Quintana tournament included the carnival festivals we see today. Giostra della Quintana attracts tourists from all over the world.[133]
As 2022, Italian athletes have a cache of 618 medals at
Summer Olympic Games, and a cache of 141 medals at
Winter Olympic Games. Italy has won a total of 259 gold medals which makes them the 6th most successful country in Olympic history, after the
USA, the
Soviet Union,
Germany,
Great Britain and
France. Italy has the sixth highest medal total of all time with 759. Italy has the third longest medaling streak after Sweden and Finland. Italy has medaled in 40 straight Olympic games, starting with the
1936 Summer Olympics.
Italy had finished the Summer Olympic Games: 2nd in
1932, 3rd in
1960, 4th in
1936, and 5th in
1924,
1928,
1948,
1952,
1956,
1964,
1980 and
1984. In the Winter Olympic Games, Italy has finished 4th in
1968 and
1994, and 6th in
1952 and
1992. Italy ranks 1st all-time in fencing, 2nd in cycling, 3rd in luge, 4th in boxing and shooting, 5th in alpine skiing, and 6th in bobsled, cross-country skiing and short track speed skating.
The
Italian National Olympic Committee (
Italian: Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI) was created in 1914 and recognized in 1915. Within Italy, CONI recognizes 44 national sports federations, 19 associate sports disciplines, 15 promotional sports organizations, and 19 organizations for the betterment of sports. In total 95,000 sports clubs with 11,000,000 members are recognized.[135] Its 2016 annual budget is 412,900,000 euros which is primarily funded by the
Italian government.[136]
The
Walk of Fame of Italian sport is the
Walk of Fame of the Italian sport, inaugurated by
Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) on 7 May 2015.[137] It is a list of 125 Italian all-time champions, which has been implemented on five occasions (five new entries in 2015, 2016 and 2021, seven in 2018, three in 2019), from the initial 100 names.
The Walk of Fame of Italian sport is a road path in
Rome with plaques dedicated to former Italian sports athletes who have distinguished themselves internationally. It runs between the Avenue of the Olympics and the
Stadio Olimpico in the
Olympic Park of the
Foro Italico of the capital.[138]
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Martin, Simon. "Italian Sport and the Challenges of Its Recent Historiography", Journal of Sport History (2011) 38#2 pp 199–209; reviews works on history of football, the politicization of sports, and military sport