The Italy national rugby union team represents Italy in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri. Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.
Benetton Rugby, also known as Benetton Treviso, is an Italian professional rugby union team based in Treviso, Veneto competing in the United Rugby Championship, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and European Champions Cup.
Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Top12. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto. The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni, who discovered rugby at university. They quickly became one of the strongest Italian sides and won 13 titles between 1951 and 2021. They have never been relegated from the top flight of Italian rugby union. They are the current Italian champion.
Petrarca Rugby is a rugby union club from Padua, Italy, currently competing in the top tier of the Italian rugby union, the Top12.
Mauro Bergamasco is a former Italian rugby union footballer who last played for Zebre. He predominantly played as an open-side flanker, although his versatility means that he had also played a number of international games on the wing, and started at scrum-half in an infamously error-prone performance. He was considered to be one of Italy's best players in his preferred position.
Mirco Bergamasco is an Italian rugby union and rugby league footballer. Bergamasco has played both rugby league and rugby union, and is a dual-code rugby international, having played for both the Italy national rugby union team and the Italy national rugby league team. He primarily plays at centre or wing. He played in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cups as well as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Sergio Matteo Parisse is an Italian rugby union player. He currently plays for French club Toulon and captained the Italian national team through the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Parisse is Italy's most-capped player, and currently third most-capped player worldwide. He was the first Italian rugby union player to be nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year, first in 2008 and again in 2013. Parisse is widely considered one of the greatest number eights to play the game in the modern era, and the greatest Italian rugby player of all time. He also holds the joint record of playing in five Rugby World Cups.
Rugby union in Italy is governed by the Italian Rugby Federation. Rugby was introduced into Italy in the early 1900s. It is also known as pallovale or palla ovale within Italy. Two Italian professional teams compete in United Rugby Championship, a league that also includes sides from Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. One of the teams is guaranteed a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup; the other normally plays in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The Top12 is the main national club competition. Four Italian clubs from the national championship compete in a qualifying tournament that awards two places in the Challenge Cup. Italy competes in the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup, and is classified as a tier one nation by World Rugby.
Sergio Savaro Giovanni Lanfranchi was an Italian rugby union player and coach, active in France for most of his career as flanker, number 8 and lock. He won two national championship titles, one in Italy for Parma and one in France for FC Grenoble and, in 2016, the second longest international career for Italy, after Mauro Bergamasco.
Fiamme Oro Rugby is the rugby union club section of the Italian State Police sport division Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro. The Fiamme Oro are currently based in Rome and play in the Top12, the first national league. Though since the club's foundation in the 1950s, the former Fiamme Oro Padova won both the Italian championship and the Coppa Italia.
Andrea Benatti is an Italian rugby union player who last played for Aironi in the Pro12 in Italy. Once considered a star prospect, Benatti sat out several games for the national team in reserve for Mauro Bergamasco. A strong tackler with good ball-carrying skills, he has won five caps for Italy.
This is a list of the complete squads for the 2009 Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union tournament contested by the national rugby teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy Scotland, and Wales. Each country was entitled to name a squad of 39 players to contest the championship. They could also invite additional players along prior to the start of the championship while the coach could call up replacement players if squad members suffered serious injury.
Zebre Parma are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) and replaced Aironi in the Pro12.
The 2006 Italy rugby union tour was a series of two matches played in June 2006 in Japan and Fiji by Italy national rugby union team. After a convincing victory against Japan, the team managed by Pierre Berbisier, lost against Fiji,
Dean Parata is an Italy international rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker for London Broncos in the Betfred Championship.
Guglielmo Palazzani is an Italian rugby union player. His usual position is as a scrum-half, and he currently plays for Zebre.
The Sacramento Express were a professional American rugby union team that played in the short lived PRO Rugby competition. They were based in Sacramento, California, and played their home games at Bonney Field.
The Saluzzo Roosters, formerly known as the North West Roosters, are a rugby league club based in Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy. Founded in 2010 as a rugby union club, the Roosters changed to playing rugby league in 2015. They currently compete in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) division of the French National Division 2. As of 2019 they have since switched back to Rugby Union.
