The Italy men's national volleyball team is the volleyball national team of Italy. It dominated international volleyball competitions in the 1990s and early 2000s, by winning three World Championships in a row (1990, 1994 and 1998), six European Championships, one World Cup (1995) and eight World League (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2000). They are the 3rd best team in the world, ranked by the FIVB as of January 2012.
The first success of the Italian Men's National Team was the bronze medal won at the European Championships in 1948, but it was only in the early 1970s that Italy remained consistently near the top of the Volleyball tree, attending every Olympic Games from 1976 onwards.
In 1984, the Italian team won the bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, with Silvano Prandi coach of the Italians.
It was in 1985 that those who were to become the stars of the 1990s gave a glimpse of their future success by claiming the silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Italy.
In 1993, Italy set off on another series uninterrupted successes. Julio Velasco's boys prevailed in the first edition of the World Champions Cup, and then in 1994 defeated the Netherlands in the World Championship Final in Athens and gained the World League title for the fourth time.
The Velasco era ended in 1996. The Italians missed out on the Olympic gold medal in the Final of the Atlanta Games, surrendering to the Dutch in a tie-break. The Italian team still took second place in the World League, though.
Led by the Brazilian Bebeto, Italy played a major role in 1997: they conquered the World League Finals in Moscow and claimed the bronze medal at the European Championships in Eindhoven. In 1998, the Italians won the World Championship for the third time.
At the beginning of 1999, there was a change on the bench with the arrival of Andrea Anastasi. He immediately started winning and Italy claimed the World League for the seventh time.
In the 2000 World League, Italy won their eighth gold medal, defeating Russia. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, a bronze medal was theirs.