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As the audiences at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games cheer on Daniel Grassl, Matteo Rizzo, Lara Naki Gutmann, Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii, Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini and Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri, why not take a look back at the Italian figure skaters who paved the way?
Italy’s history in Olympic figure skating may not be as medal-rich as some other countries, but it is full of pioneers and trailblazers. Here's a look back through the decades, highlighting the stories of the skaters who helped shape Italy's presence in the sport.
Anna and Ercole Cattaneo
1930s: The Pioneers – Anna and Ercole Cattaneo
At the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Anna (Dubini) and Ercole Cattaneo made history as the first Italians to compete on the Olympic stage. Anna (Dubini) and Ercole Cattaneo, both born in Milan - he on December 3, 1906, and she on August 23, 1911 - were pioneering figures in Italian figure skating.
Members of Circolo Pattinatori Artistico and representing Diavoli Rossoneri Milano, they trained at Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio, an 1,800-square-meter indoor rink built in 1923 that was one of the largest in Europe at the time. The Cattaneos were Italy’s first Olympic figure skaters, competing in the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and finishing ninth. They also placed sixth at the 1937 European Championships and sixth and tenth at the 1937 and 1938 World Championships, respectively.
Domestically, they dominated the Italian Championships, winning singles and pairs titles multiple times - including a notable victory in 1936 at Madonna di Campiglio where they both captured the singles and pairs events, defeating the defending pairs champions Leila Bottini and Vittorio Maggi.
The Cattaneos contributed to the sport’s visibility through exhibitions in Milan, Bolzano, and Germany. Anna recalled in a 1937 "Daily Mirror" interview that their 1936 Olympic participation came on just four weeks’ notice and that she trained before breakfast under her mother’s guidance, as Milan was the only place in Italy with suitable facilities.
Wartime disruptions - including severe damage to the Palazzo del Ghiaccio - did not diminish their contributions to the sport, and they remained involved with clubs such as Circolo Sciatori Bolzano and C.P.A. Milano.
After retiring from competitive skating, Ercole served on the Italian Ice Sports Association’s Technical Committee and became an international judge and referee at numerous Olympics, World, and European Championships, while Anna was already coaching skaters, including Grazia Barcellona and Carlo Fassi, even before her competitive career ended. She later served as a national level skating judge.
The Cattaneos remained Italy's only Olympic pair to finish in the top ten until 2018, cementing their legacy as trailblazers in Italian figure skating.
1953 European Figure Skating Champions Carlo Fassi and Valda Osborn
1940s-1950s: Carlo Fassi and Italy on the Rise
Carlo Fassi became Italy's most notable male figure skater of this era. Competing internationally in the late 1940s and 1950s, Fassi was Italy’s first skater to reach the podium in international competitions, paving the way for future Italian skaters to compete at the highest level.
Born December 20, 1929 in Milan, Italy, Fassi emerged from a family connected to Milan's Palazzo del Ghiaccio. His grandfather ran the rink where he first took to the ice at age six. By the age of twelve, he had already claimed the Italian junior men’s title. Training under German coach Harry Burghardt, Fassi dominated skating in Italy, winning nine national senior men's titles and eight senior pairs titles with Grazia Barcellona.
Postwar conditions in Milan led him and Barcellona to train in London with Jacques Gerschwiler for the 1948 Winter Olympics. Between 1950 and 1954, Fassi won five European Championship medals - including golds in 1953 and 1954 - and a World bronze in 1953, before turning down professional skating offers to pursue coaching, first in Milan and then at Cortina d’Ampezzo, where he trained the Italian national team and met his wife, Christa von Kuczkowski.
After the 1961 Sabena Crash, he moved to the U.S. to replace Edi Scholdan at the Broadmoor World Arena, building a legendary coaching career that produced four Olympic Gold Medallists: Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, John Curry, and Robin Cousins.
Known for his keen technical insight and ability to motivate, Fassi coached champions from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Romania, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia.
At a time when the ISU was keen to axe compulsory figures, Fassi advocated for their survival and cautioned against overemphasis on jumps.
Fluent in five languages and passionate about history, politics, and culture, Fassi's influence spanned continents, shaping generations of skaters with a combination of discipline and vision.
He returned to Milan in 1990 to coach at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio and was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994.
Fassi passed away on March 20, 1997, while coaching at the World Championships in Lausanne. Over two decades after his death, he remains widely regarded as one of the most influential coaches in skating history.
Anna Galmarini
1960s: Anna Galmarini - Italy’s Leading Lady
The 1960s brought Italy’s first standout female skater: Anna Galmarini. Galmarini was born on October 15, 1942, in Milan, Italy, and began skating at the age of ten, partly inspired by her older brother and partly because she disliked tennis. She quickly progressed, becoming Italian junior champion by the age of thirteen.
Galmarini left Italy to train in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and in 1957 she won her first of four consecutive Italian senior titles. Her early international outings were unremarkable - finishing nineteenth at the 1957 European Championships and twenty-first at the World Championships - but her charming free skating gradually drew attention.
By 1960, Galmarini had broken into the top ten at the European Championships, Winter Olympics and World Championships. The Italian newspaper "La Stampa-Domenica" called her style "very whimsical and elegant" and "quite different from what they are accustomed to [in] Europe."
After turning professional, she toured with Holiday on Ice in Europe and the U.S., eventually joining the Ice Capades. In 1965, she made history as the first Italian skater to win the World Professional Skating Championships in London, England.
Known for her versatility, multilingualism, and love of cooking, Galnarini remained involved in skating as a coach after her performing career ended. She passed away in 1997 at the age of fifty-four, leaving a unique legacy as a skater whose expressive style and adventurous career spanned continents.
1970s - Breaking New Ground – Rita Trapanese and Susanna Driano
The 1970s saw Italian skaters continue to make their mark. At the first officially recognized Olympic ice dancing event in 1976, Matilde Ciccia and Lamberto Ceserani finished in the top ten - but the country's most notable successes during this period were in the women's event.
Rita Trapanese
Born on May 8, 1951, in Milan, Rita Trapanese was a dominant force in Italian figure skating throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, winning eight consecutive national titles from 1965 to 1972. Known for her discipline and determination - rising at five each morning to train until evening - she steadily improved on the international stage, claiming bronze at the Richmond Trophy in 1969 and winning it the following year.
In Zürich in 1971, Trapanese made history as the first Italian skater to win a medal in the women's event at the European Figure Skating Championships, followed by a silver in Gothenburg in 1972, helping pave the way for future Italian competitors like Susanna Driano.
Trapanese also represented Italy at two Olympic Games, achieving a seventh-place finish in Sapporo in 1972, and posted her best World Championships result with fifth overall in Lyon in 1971.
After retiring from amateur competition, she performed professionally with Holiday on Ice before transitioning to journalism. She tragically died in a car accident in 2000.
Susanna Driano
Susanna Driano, born on January 29, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois, started her skating career in the United States, representing the Overlake Skating Club in Washington at the regional and sectional level. Her Italian-born father was a national-level skating judge and referee.
In 1974, Driano chose to leave the crowded ranks of U.S. figure skating behind and represent Italy internationally. The decision paid off when she won the Italian Championships six times in a row. She was one of the country’s leading ladies in figure skating during the late 1970s. Known for her consistency, she quickly established herself on the international stage under the guidance of coaches Barbara Roles Williams and Carlo and Christa Fassi.
In 1978, she earned her first major international medal with a bronze at the European Championships in Strasbourg and made history at the World Championships in Ottawa, winning Italy's first medal in the women's event.
She represented Italy at the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics, finishing eighth at the latter games in Lake Placid.
At the time, it was quite rare for skaters to represent countries other than the ones they were born, and Driano - like Californian-born Dianne de Leeuw representing The Netherlands - was an early example of a skater finding success by swapping countries.
1980s and 1990s - A Period of Transition
While Italy had produced several standout skaters in earlier decades, the 1980s and 1990s proved to be a relatively quiet period for Italian figure skating. Few athletes managed to break through on the international stage, and the country struggled to pose a challenge to the dominant skating nations of the time. There were certainly still trailblazers during this period.
Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola
Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola were Italy’s leading ice‑dance team in the late 1980s. The duo captured the Italian national title in both 1987 and 1988, establishing themselves as the country’s top representatives in the discipline.
Internationally, they placed in the top ten at the 1988 European Championships and Winter Olympics in Calgary, delivering solid performances that kept Italy visible on the world stage. Although they never reached the podium at major international competitions, Trovati and Pelizzola played an important role in sustaining Italian ice dance during a quiet era, helping to pave the way for the more competitive teams that would emerge in the 1990s and beyond.
Gilberto Viadana
Gilberto Viadana, born 9 February 1973 in Milan, was one of Italy’s leading men’s figure skaters in the 1990s, a two‑time Olympian (1992 and 1998) who also competed at multiple European and World Championships. He honed his skills under some of the sport’s top coaches, beginning with Silvana Grilli, then Günter Zöller, and later Carlo and Christa Fassie and earned the distinction of being the first Italian to land a triple Axel in competition. He later transitioned to coaching and served as an international technical specialist, passing on his expertise to the next generation of skaters.
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Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo
In Albertville in 1992, Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo made history as the first Italian ice dancers to place in the top five at the Winter Olympics. Calegari was born in Milan; Camerlengo in Switzerland. The duo placed in the top ten at five World Championships. After Calegari's retirement, Camerlengo represented Italy at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano with fellow Swiss-born skater Diane Gerencser. After turning professional, Camerlengo coached a who's who of ice dancing, including Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Nathalie Péchalat and Fabian Bourzat and Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali.
The 21st Century - A Breakthrough
As Italian figure skating moved into the 2000s, the nation experienced a renaissance on the ice. A new generation of skaters began to achieve consistent success in both singles and ice dance. While the 1980s and 1990s had been relatively quiet periods for Italy, the new millennium brought world-class athletes who combined technical prowess with beautiful artistry. Italy’s skaters became known not just for their skill but for expressive, character-driven performances that captured the attention of audiences worldwide.
Barbara Fusar‑Poli and Maurizio Margaglio. Photo courtesy Olindo Brodi.
Barbara Fusar‑Poli and Maurizio Margaglio were Italy’s trailblazing ice-dance duo in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They made history as the first Italian team to win the World Championships in 2000. The following year, they became the first Italian team to win the European Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, they won Italy's first Olympic medal in ice dancing. Beyond their groundbreaking achievements, the duo’s charisma and competitive spirit inspired a generation of Italian ice dancers, proving that Italy could challenge the long-standing strength of Russia, France, Canada and the United States in the discipline.
Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali
Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali were another highly successful Italian ice-dance duo in the 2000s, known for their charisma, strong technical skills, and compelling programs. Their career highlights included two medals at the European Championships and a bronze medal at the World Championships in 2010, in their home country. Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte continued Italy’s tradition of strong ice-dance performances. Known for inventive choreography, musicality, and strong technique, Capellini and Lanotte claimed both the European and World titles in 2014, making them the first Italian skaters to win two senior ISU Championships in the same year.
Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte. Photo courtesy Andrey Malgin.
Carolina Kostner emerged as Italy's most decorated singles skater of the 21st century, celebrated for her elegance and expressiveness. Making her senior international debut as a teenager, Kostner quickly gained attention for her fluid skating style and musical interpretation, which set her apart in an era increasingly focused on technical difficulty. In 2007, she made history as the first Italian woman to win the European Championships - the first of five victories at the event. In 2012, she made history as the first Italian woman to win the World Championships and in 2014, she became the first Italian woman to win an Olympic medal in singles. Many thought her "Bolero" at the Sochi Games was the performance of the night.
Carolina Kostner. Photo courtesy Margarita Voronkovskaya.
From the pioneering efforts of the Cattaneos to the artistry of Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skating has steadily grown from a minor presence to a respected force in the sport. As the spotlight shines on the incredible Italian skaters competing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, the legacy of the skaters who came before reminds us that the country’s history on ice is one of steady progress, pioneering spirit, and remarkable firsts.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of eight fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.