Italy: one of the most football-mad countries on Earth – and the producer of some of the finest attacking talent ever to play the game.
But who are the best Italian attackers ever? FourFourTwo has been hard at work ranking the land of calcio's greatest forwards.
Let's dive straight in!
Fabio Quagliarella was 36 when he finished as Serie A top scorer in 2018/19 – and continued to bang in the goals until the ripe old age of 40.
Especially prolific for Sampdoria, the 28-cap Italy international – who found the net eight times for his country – won the Serie B title with Torino – and three Serie A crowns with their arch-rivals, Juventus.
Serie A top scorer in 1988/89, Aldo Serena won the Scudetto on both sides of the Milan divide – but he made most of his career appearances for Inter, where he also lifted the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.
Capped 24 times by Italy, Serena was a member of the squad which finished third at the 1990 World Cup on home soil.
A legend in the history of Genoa and Roma, winning Serie B with the former and Serie A with the latter, Roberto Pruzzo top-scored in the Italian top flight three times during the 80s.
He reached the semi-finals of Euro 1980 with his nation (although he didn’t score in the six caps he earned overall).
One of Serie A’s most prolific goalscorers of the 90s, Giuseppe Signori was on target the best part of 200 times in the competition during the decade – having worked his way up through the lower divisions to become Lazio’s go-to striker.
A World Cup runner-up in 1994, Signori – who later turned out for Sampdoria and Bologna – finished as Serie A top scorer on three occasions
Versatile enough to play all across the forward line, Giuseppe Savoldi was football’s first million-pound player, making the landmark move from Bologna to Napoli in 1975.
A Coppa Italia winner at both clubs, Savoldi – who began and ended his career with hometown outfit Atalanta – finished as 1972/73 Serie A top scorer.
Voted Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2005, Alberto Gilardino enjoyed free-scoring campaigns in the Italian top-flight for Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina.
A strong aerial presence, Gilardino never actually got his hands on a league winner’s medal – but he did help Italy to the 2006 World Cup glory, before lifting the Champions League with Milan the following year.
Among the leading scorers in the history of Serie A, Antonio Di Natale found the net 209 times in the competition over the course of his career.
Unfortunate never to get a move to one of Italian football’s giants, Di Natale – who helped the Azzurri to the final of Euro 2012 – spent his best years with Udinese, average just over a goal every other game across his 12 years at the club.
Scorer of Italy’s second goal as they defeated Yugoslavia to win the 1968 European Championship as hosts, Pietro Anastasi was among the foremost centre-forwards of his era.
The Juventus great won three Scudetti in four season with the Bianconeri in the early 70s and later got his hands on the Coppa Italia with Inter Milan.
Torino’s record scorer with 172 goals across his 15-year stay with the club where he won the Scudetto and Coppa Italia, Paolo Pulici was a lethal finisher with a penchant for the acrobatic.
Included in Italy’s 1974 and 1978 World Cup squads, he finished his career with spells at Udinese and Fiorentina.
An important member of Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning side, Francesco Graziani scored 23 goals in 64 caps for the Azzurri.
A 1975/76 Serie A champion with Torino – where he finished as the league’s top scorer the following campaign – Graziani later helped Roma to the 1984 European Cup final, as well as lifting two Coppas Italia with the Giallorossi.
Prolific during his seven years at Inter Milan, scoring 117 Serie A goals alone, Roberto Boninsegna enjoyed a string of career highlights in the early 70s.
A 1970 World Cup runner-up, he won the Capocannoniere in each of the subsequent two seasons, helping Inter to the Scudetto in 1970/71 – before winning it twice more with Juventus later in the decade.
Sir Alex Ferguson once joked that Pippo Inzaghi was “born offside” – such was the legendary AC Milan striker’s propensity for playing on the shoulder of the last defender.
A Serie A winner with Juventus and Milan – and a two-time European champion with the latter – ‘Superpippo’ scooped the 1996/97 Capocannoniere (Golden Boot) while at Atalanta and scored 25 goals in 57 caps for Italy – with whom he won the 2006 World Cup.
Legendary Napoli skipper Ciro Immobile will go down as one of the deadliest strikers in Serie A history, sitting among a select group of players to score 200 or more goals in the competition.
Capocannionere winner on numerous occasions, Immobile won the European Golden Shoe with 36 league goals in 2019/20 – before helping his country to Euros glory the following summer.
He later captained the national team in addition to his club.
Gianfranco Zola is widely considered among the best players ever to grace the Premier League – which he lit up with his magical displays for Chelsea.
Capped 35 times, the diminutive genius scored some truly special goals – including this audacious backheel against Norwich City in the FA Cup – having scooped the prestigious FWA (Football Writers’ Association) Footballer of the Year award in his first season in England.
A Serie A champion with Napoli early in his career, Zola lifted the two FA Cups, the League Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup at Chelsea.
Scorer of the goal which put Italy 3-0 up en route to victory over West Germany in the 1982 World Cup final, Alessandro Altobelli was one of the top strikers of his generation.
Nicknamed ‘Spillo’ (‘Needle’) for his slender frame, he spent the majority of his career with Inter Milan – where he won the Scudetto, and the Coppa Italia – in which he remains all-time leading scorer – twice.
Supremely gifted and hugely creative, Roberto Mancini was right up there with the game’s foremost forwards of the 80s and 90s.
A Serie A and Coppa Italia winner with both Sampdoria (with whom he also reached the 1992 European Cup final) and Lazio, the 1986/87 Serie A Footballer of the Year would often give half-time team talks as a player (anyone know if he went into management…?).
Internationally, Mancini earned 34 caps, helping the Azzurri to third place at Italia ‘90.
A major star for Juventus, Roberto Bettega’s goals were instrumental in the Bianconeri winning a dominant seven Serie A titles between 1972 and 1982.
Nicknamed ‘La penna bianca’ (‘The white feather’) because his hair went grey so young (a bit harsh), the 1979/80 Serie A top scorer reached the semis of the World Cup and Euros with Italy, netting 19 times in 42 caps overall.
The son of Valentino Mazzola – a member of the ‘Grande Torino’ team tragically killed in the 1949 Superga air disaster – Sandro Mazzola did his father proud by carving out a storied career of his very own.
In 568 appearances for Inter Milan – his only club – the versatile forward scored 161 goals and set up plenty too, winning plaudits for his immense work rate in attack.
Runner-up for the 1971 Ballon d’Or, Mazzola won four Serie A titles and two European Cups with Inter – and Euro 1968 with Italy.
Born in Brazil but fondly remembered for his time in Italy, Jose Altafini represented both countries at international level (FIFA were much more relaxed about players switching allegiances back in the mid-20th century). He even won the 1958 World Cup with Brazil!
A complete centre-forward, Altafini racked up 120 goals in 205 Serie A outings for AC Milan, helping them to two Scudetti (a feat he later repeated with Juventus) and the 1962/63 European Cup, in which he finished as top scorer (having done so in Serie A the previous season).
One of the highest-scoring Italian players in history, Luca Toni made the net ripple more than 300 times over the course of his career – which yielded World Cup glory, and two Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich, among other honours.
What Toni lacked in technical skill he more than made up for with his devastating poaching ability, and he finished as top scorer in Serie B and Serie A – also scooping the European Golden Shoe in 2005/06, when he struck 31 times in 38 league games for Fiorentina.
A quite remarkable striker, Amadeo Amadei showed prodigious talent when he debuted for Roma three months short of his 16th birthday – becoming the youngest player in Serie A history.
In 1941/42, he fired the Giallorossi – for whom he totalled 116 league goals at a rate of almost one every other game – to their first ever Scudetto, and he went on to find the net seven times in 13 Italy caps, appearing at the 1950 World Cup.
Growing up in Australia, Christian Vieri wanted to be a professional cricketer; instead, he became one of football’s most potent strikers either side of the turn of the 21st century.
A Golden Boot winner in Serie A – where he won the 1996/97 Scudetto with Juventus – and La Liga, the imposing ‘Bobo’ helped Italy to two European U21 Championships before scoring 23 goals in 49 senior caps.
Adaptable enough to play as the main striker, out wide or in a withdrawn role, the late Gianluca Vialli was one of the very best and most popular Italian footballers of the 80s and 90s.
He enjoyed huge success with Sampdoria and Juventus – winning the Scudetto with both clubs and the 1995/96 Champions League with Juve – before tasting FA Cup, League Cup and Cup Winners’ success at Chelsea, lifting the latter two trophies as player-manager.
One of only two players to win the Serie A title with Juventus and local rivals Torino, Guglielmo Gabetto spearheaded the ‘Grande Torino’ team tragically killed in the Superga air disaster of 1949.
Prior to his untimely death, Gabetto had fired Torino to four straight Scudetti (and five in total), as well as bagging five goals in six caps for Italy – with whom there’s every chance he’d have won the 1950 World Cup if not for Superga, which wiped out most of the Azzurri’s starting line-up.
A rarity in the modern era as a one-club man, the inimitable Francesco Totti amassed a whopping 786 appearances for Roma, notching 307 goals – both club records by some distance.
During the 2000/01 season, the man dubbed ‘L'Ottavo Re di Roma’ (‘The Eighth King of Rome’) captained his hometown club to their first Scudetto in 28 years, and later two Coppas Italia.
Adept across the front line or as a number 10, Totti also starred in Italy’s 2006 World Cup triumph, cementing his place as an all-time Azzurri great.
One of the finest players ever to pull on the colours of Juventus or Italy, Giampiero Boniperti held Juve’s all-time goals record for more than 40 years.
Having excelled as a centre-forward, Boniperti added many more strings to his bow later in his career, proving his worth out wide, as a second striker and even in a defensive midfield capacity.
A five-time Serie A champion – and top scorer in 1947/48 – Boniperti starred for Italy at the 1950 and 1954 World Cups.
The man who usurped Giampiero Boniperti as Juventus’ all-time leading marksman – totalling 290 to his predecessor’s 185 – Alessandro Del Piero was up there with the best players in world football during his prime.
Nominated for the Ballon d’Or on multiple occasions, Del Piero earned admirers throughout the game – including a certain Diego Maradona, who claimed he was better than Juve teammate Zinedine Zidane.
A six-time Serie A champion and a Champions League winner with Juve, Del Piero played a crucial role in Italy’s 2006 World Cup victory, sealing the Azzurri’s 2-0 semi-final win over Germany.
Blessed with an astonishing left foot (one of his coaches joked that he only needed his right foot “to step up onto the tram”), Gigi Riva was among the very best strikers on the planet during the late 60s and early 70s.
In 42 Italy caps, he scored 35 goals – including the opener of the Euro 1968 final as the Azzurri beat Yugoslavia in Rome – as well as topping the Serie A scoring charts on three occasions, firing Cagliari to the 1969/70 Scudetto.
At one point or another, Silvio Piola held Serie A goalscoring records for three different clubs – most prominently Lazio. That’s some feat.
A 1938 World Cup winner – bagging a brace as Italy defeated Hungary 4-2 in the final – scored for fun wherever he went, amassing the best part of 400 career goals – including 30 in just 34 games for his country.
Hero of Italy’s 1982 World Cup triumph, scoring six goals – including the opener in the final against West Germany – to collect the Golden Boot, Paolo Rossi was undoubtedly one of the greatest strikers of all time.
Only the third player to win the World Cup Golden Boot, Golden Ball and the tournament itself, Rossi tasted Serie A, Coppa Italia, European Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup glory with Juventus.
Oh, and just for good measure, he also got his hands on the 1982 Ballon d’Or. Not bad – not bad at all.
You probably know AC Milan and Inter Milan’s home ground as the San Siro – but its official title is the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, because of this man (who also managed to squeeze in a spell with Juventus).
It was in the colours of Inter that Meazza achieved true greatness, though, plundering 282 goals in 391 appearances and winning three Serie A titles between 1930 and 1940 – as well as scooping three Capocannonieri.
Golden Ball recipient as Italy lifted the 1934 World Cup, he starred again as the Azzurri retained the trophy four years later. An icon.
One of the biggest stars of the 90s – a time when he was among the very best players on the planet, and one of the most instantly recognisable (he wasn’t dubbed ‘The Divine Ponytail’ for nothing), Roberto Baggio brought joy to fans of Italy, Juventus and more.
An extraordinarily gifted footballer who could seemingly do it all, Baggio claimed the 1993 Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award – before winning Serie A titles with Juve and AC Milan in the middle of the decade.
If jot for injury disrupting his career, there’s a possibility he would even have gone down as the greatest player of all time.
