Italy competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 340 competitors, 236 men and 104 women, took part in 172 events in 27 sports.
Medalists
Gold Antonio Rossi — Canoeing, Men's K1 500 metres Kayak Singles Antonio Rossi and Daniele Scarpa — Canoeing, Men's K2 1.000 metres Kayak Pairs Andrea Collinelli — Cycling, Men's 4.000 metres Individual Pursuit Silvio Martinello — Cycling, Men's Points Race Antonella Bellutti — Cycling, Women's Individual Pursuit Paola Pezzo — Cycling, Women's Cross-country Mountainbike Alessandro Puccini — Fencing, Men's Foil Individual Competition Maurizio Randazzo, Sandro Cuomo, and Angelo Mazzoni — Fencing, Men's Épée Team Competition Giovanna Trillini, Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella, and Valentina Vezzali — Fencing, Women's Foil Team Competition Yuri Chechi — Gymnastics, Men's Rings Agostino Abbagnale and Davide Tizzano — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls Roberto Di Donna — Shooting, Men's Air Pistol Ennio Falco — Shooting, Men's Skeet
Silver Fiona May — Athletics, Women's Long Jump Elisabetta Perrone — Athletics, Women's 10 km Walk Beniamino Bonomi — Canoeing, Men's K1 1.000 metres Kayak Singles Beniamino Bonomi and Daniele Scarpa — Canoeing, Men's K2 500 metres Kayak Pairs Imelda Chiappa — Cycling, Women's Individual Road Race Margherita Zalaffi, Laura Chiesa, and Elisa Uga — Fencing, Women's Épée Team Competition Valentina Vezzali — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition Girolamo Giovinazzo — Judo, Men's Extra Lightweight (60 kg) Albano Pera — Shooting, Men's Double Trap Andrea Sartoretti, Paolo Tofoli, Andrea Zorzi, Pasquale Gravina, Marco Meoni, Samuele Papi, Luca Cantagalli, Andrea Gardini, Andrea Giani, Lorenzo Bernardi, Vigor Bovolenta, and Marco Bracci — Volleyball, Men's Team Competition
Bronze Michele Frangilli, Matteo Bisiani, and Andrea Parenti — Archery, Men's Team Competition Alessandro Lambruschini — Athletics, Men's 3.000 metres Steeplechase Roberta Brunet — Athletics, Women's 5.000 metres Josefa Idem Guerrini — Canoeing, Women's K1 500 metres Kayak Singles Raffaello Caserta, Luigi Tarantino, and Tonhi Terenzi – Fencing, Men's Sabre Team Competition Giovanna Trillini — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition Ylenia Scapin — Judo, Women's Half Heavyweight (72 kg) Roberto Didonna — Shooting, Men's Free Pistol Andrea Benelli — Shooting, Men's Skeet Emanuele Merisi — Swimming, Men's 200m Backstroke Leonardo Sottani, Carlo Silipo, Luca Giustolisi, Amedeo Pomilio, Francesco Postiglione, Roberto Calcaterra, Marco Gerini, Alberto Ghibellini, Alessandro Bovo, Alessandro Calcaterra, Alberto Angelini, Francesco Attolico, and Fabio Bencivenga — Water Polo, Men's Team Competition Alessandra Sensini — Sailing, Women's Mistral Individual Competition
Archery
The Italian men received unfortunate rankings in the open round, and both Andrea Parenti and Matteo Bisiani quickly found themselves losing to eventual silver medallist Magnus Petersson, in the second and third rounds, respectively. Both had the highest score of any archer to lose in their round. Michele Frangilli advanced to the quarterfinal before facing eventual gold medallist Justin Huish. They won the bronze medal in the team round.
Women's Individual Competition: Giovanna Aldegani – round of 32, 28th place (1–1) Paola Fantato – round of 64, 54th place (0–1) Giuseppina di Blasi – round of 64, 60th place (0–1)
Men's Individual Competition: Michele Frangilli – quarterfinal, 6th place (3–1) Matteo Bisiani – round of 16, 9th place (2–1) Andrea Parenti – round of 32, 17th place (1–1)
Women's Team Competition: Aldegani, Fantato, and di Blasi – round of 16, 9th place (0–1)
Men's Team Competition: Frangilli, Bisiani, and Parenti – Bronze Medal Match (3–1) → Bronze Medal
Athletics
Men's 100 metres Ezio Madonia Stefano Tilli
Men's 200 metres Sandro Floris
Men's 800 metres Giuseppe D'Urso Andrea Benvenuti Andrea Giocondi
Men's 5,000 metres Genny di Napoli Qualification — 14:03.56 Semifinal — 13:28.80 Final — 13:28.36 (→ 12th place)
Stefano Baldini Qualification — 13:55.41 Semifinal — 14:06.45 (→ did not advance)
Men's 10,000 metres Stefano Baldini Qualification — 27:55.79 Final — 29:07.77 (→ 18th place)
Men's Marathon Danilo Goffi — 2:15.08 (→ 9th place) Salvatore Bettiol — 2:17.27 (→ 20th place) Davide Milesi — 2:21.45 (→ 50th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay Giovanni Puggioni, Ezio Madonia, Angelo Cipolloni, and Sandro Floris Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 400 m Relay Fabrizio Mori, Alessandro Aimar, Andrea Nuti, and Ashraf Saber Heat — 3:03.60 Semi Final — 3:02.56 (→ did not advance)
Men's 400m Hurdles Fabrizio Mori Heat — 48.90s Semi Final — 48.43s Final — 48.41s (→ 6th place)
Laurent Ottoz Heat — 48.92s Semi Final — 48.52s (→ did not advance)
Ashraf Saber Heat — 49.71s (→ did not advance)
Men's 3,000 metres Steeplechase Alessandro Lambruschini Heat — 8:31.69 Semifinals — 8:27.32 Final — 8:11.28 (→ Bronze Medal)
Angelo Carosi Heat — 8:30.83 Semifinals — 8:21.86 Final — 8:29.67 (→ 9th place)
Men's Long Jump Simone Bianchi Qualification — 7.79m (→ did not advance)
Men's Shot Put Paolo Dal Soglio Corrado Fantini Giorgio Venturi
Men's Discus Throw Diego Fortuna Qualification — 60.08m (→ did not advance)
Men's Hammer Throw Enrico Sgrulletti Qualification — 77.36m Final — 76.98m (→ 9th place)
Loris Paoluzzi Qualification — 72.82m (→ did not advance)
Men's Decathlon Beniamino Poserina Final Result — 7013 points (→ 30th place)
Men's 20 kilometres Walk Giovanni Perricelli Giovanni De Benedictis Michele Didoni
Men's 50 kilometres Walk Arturo Di Mezza — 3'44:52 (→ 4th place) Giovanni Perricelli — 3'52:31 (→ 13th place) Giovanni De Benedictis — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Women's 400 metres Virna De Angeli Patrizia Spuri
Women's 5,000 metres Roberta Brunet Silvia Sommaggio
Women's 10,000 metres Maria Guida Qualification — 31:55.35 Final — did not start (→ no ranking)
Silvia Sommaggio Qualification — 32:59.40 (→ did not advance)
Women's Marathon Ornella Ferrara — 2:33.09 (→ 13th place) Maria Curatolo — did not finish (→ no ranking) Maura Viceconte — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Women's 100m Hurdles Carla Tuzzi
Women's 400m Hurdles Virna de Angeli Qualification — 57.12 (→ did not advance)
Women's Discus Throw Agnese Maffeis Qualification — 56.54m (→ did not advance)
Women's High Jump Antonella Bevilacqua Qualification — 1.93m Final — 1.99m (→ 4th place)
Women's Long Jump Fiona May Qualification — 6.85m Final — 7.02m (→ Silver Medal)
Women's Triple Jump Barbara Lah Qualification — 13.74m (→ did not advance)
Women's Heptathlon Giuliana Spada
Women's 10 km Walk Elisabetta Perrone – 42:12 (→ Silver Medal) Rossella Giordano – 42:43 (→ 5th place) Annarita Sidoti – 43:57 (→ 11th place)
Baseball
The Italians were one of four teams that made their second appearance in Olympic baseball in 1996. They improved slightly, upon their seventh-place finish of four years earlier by taking the middle place in a three-way tie for fifth through seventh places. They had defeated Korea and Australia in the preliminary round but had lost their other five preliminary games.
Men's Team Competition: Italy – 6th place (2–5)
Team roster Claudio Liverzani Pier Paolo Illuminati Roberto De Franceschi David Rigoli Marco Urbani Francesco Casolari Andrea Evangelisti Enrico Vecchi Massimiliano Masin Paolo Ceccaroli Ruggero Bagialemani Paolo Passerini Massimo Fochi Alberto d'Auria Roberto Cabalisti Dante Cabrini Marco Barboni Rolando Cretis Luigi Carrozza Fabio Betto
Basketball
Women's tournament
Preliminary round
Quarterfinals
Classification Round 5th−8th place
7th place game
Beach volleyball
Andrea Ghiurghi and Nicola Grigolo — 13th place overall
Boxing
Men's Flyweight (51 kg) Carmine Molaro First Round — Lost to Hussein Hussein (Australia), 8–11
Men's Lightweight (60 kg) Christian Giantomassi First Round — Lost to Sergey Kopenkin (Kyrgyzstan), 11–12
Men's Light Middleweight (71 kg) Antonio Perugino First Round — Defeated José Quinones (Puerto Rico), 10–8 Second Round — Defeated Roger Pettersson (Sweden), 18–4 Quarter Finals — Lost to Alfredo Duvergel (Cuba), 8–15
Men's Light Heavyweight (81 kg) Pietro Aurino First Round — Defeated Yusuf Öztürk (Turkey), 15–7 Second Round — Lost to Vassili Jirov (Kazakhstan), 13–18
Men's Super Heavyweight (> 91 kg) Paolo Vidoz First Round — Bye Second Round — Lost to Alexis Rubalcaba (Cuba), referee stopped contest in first round
Canoeing
Cycling
Road Competition Men's Individual Time Trial Maurizio Fondriest Final — 1:05:01 (→ 4th place)
Francesco Casagrande Final — 1:09:18 (→ 19th place)
Women's Individual Road Race Imelda Chiappa Final — 02:36:38 (→ Silver Medal)
Alessandra Cappellotto Final — 02:37:06 (→ 7th place)
Roberta Bonanomi Final — 02:37:06 (→ 32nd place)
Women's Individual Time Trial Imelda Chiappa Final – 38:47 (→ 8th place)
Track Competition Men's Points Race Silvio Martinello Final — 37 points (→ Gold Medal)
Mountain Bike Men's Cross Country Daniele Pontoni Final — 2:25:08 (→ 5th place)
Luca Bramati Final — 2:26:05 (→ 8th place)
Women's Cross Country Paola Pezzo Final — 1:50.51 (→ Gold Medal)
Annabella Stropparo Final — 1:55.56 (→ 6th place)
Diving
Men's 3m Springboard Davide Lorenzini Preliminary Round — 356.55 Semi Final — 202.80 (→ 15th place)
Women's 3m Springboard Francesca d'Oriano Preliminary Heat — 208.77 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Women's 10m Platform Francesca d'Oriano Preliminary Heat — 202.86 (→ did not advance, 28th place)
Equestrian
Fencing
Sixteen fencers, nine men and seven women, represented Italy in 1996.
Men's foil Alessandro Puccini Stefano Cerioni Marco Arpino
Men's team foil Alessandro Puccini, Marco Arpino, Stefano Cerioni
Men's épée Sandro Cuomo Angelo Mazzoni Maurizio Randazzo
Men's team épée Sandro Cuomo, Angelo Mazzoni, Maurizio Randazzo
Men's sabre Tonhi Terenzi Luigi Tarantino Raffaelo Caserta
Men's team sabre Luigi Tarantino, Raffaelo Caserta, Tonhi Terenzi
Women's foil Valentina Vezzali Giovanna Trillini Diana Bianchedi
Women's team foil Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella, Giovanna Trillini, Valentina Vezzali
Women's épée Margherita Zalaffi Elisa Uga Laura Chiesa
Women's team épée Elisa Uga, Laura Chiesa, Margherita Zalaffi
Football
Men's team competition Preliminary round (group C) Lost to (0–1) Lost to (2–3) Defeated (2–1) → Did not advance
Team roster Gianluca Pagliuca Christian Panucci Alessandro Nesta Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Galante Salvatore Fresi Raffaele Ametrano Massimo Crippa Marco Branca Massimo Brambilla Marco Delvecchio Gianluigi Buffon Alessandro Pistone Damiano Tommasi Fabio Pecchia Domenico Morfeo Cristiano Lucarelli Antonino Bernardini Luigi Sartor Head coach: Cesare Maldini
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Men's Individual Competition: Cesare Toraldo – 5402 pts (→ 8th place) Fabio Nebuloni – 5285 pts (→ 17th place) Alessandro Conforto – 5128 pts (→ 25th place)
Rhythmic gymnastics
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Men's 50m Freestyle René Gusperti Heat – 22.85 B-Final – 22.96 (→ 14th place)
Men's 200m Freestyle Massimiliano Rosolino Heat – 1:48.80 Final – 1:48.50 (→ 6th place)
Pier Maria Siciliano Heat – 1:49.88 B-Final – 1:50.07 (→ 13th place)
Men's 400m Freestyle Emiliano Brembilla Heat – 3:49.35 Final – 3:49.87 (→ 4th place)
Massimiliano Rosolino Heat – 3:51.05 Final – 3:51.04 (→ 6th place)
Men's 1500m Freestyle Emiliano Brembilla Heat – 15:16.72 Final – 15:08.58 (→ 4th place)
Marco Formentini Heat – 15:41.14 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
Men's 100m Backstroke Emanuele Merisi Heat – 55.82 Final – 55.53 (→ 6th place)
Men's 200m Backstroke Emanuele Merisi Heat – 2:00.01 Final – 1:59.18 (→ Bronze Medal)
Mirko Mazzari