Italians may not go abroad in the same numbers as other big European footballing powers, but plenty have had a crack at the Premier League over the years.
Here, we take a look at those who have made the biggest impact on the English top flight since 1993.
(Spoiler alert: Andrea Silenzi, the first Italian to play in the Prem, didn’t make the cut…).
Sandro Tonali
Sandro Tonali became the most expensive Italian footballer of all time when he joined Newcastle from Milan for £55m ahead of the 2023/24 season – but the Magpies would have to make do without him for most of the campaign, after he was handed a 10-month ban for breaking betting rules.
But when the midfielder returned to action early in the 2024/25 campaign, he showed what his team had been missing with his class as a deep-lying playmaker.
Guglielmo Vicario
Another summer 2023 Premier League arrival, Guglielmo Vicario quickly established himself among the English top flight’s standout goalkeepers, playing all 38 games of the 2023/24 campaign for Tottenham.
The former Empoli and Venezia custodian was named Goalkeeper of the Year at the 2024 London Football Awards, shortly before making his international debut.
Gianluca Festa
An all-action centre-back who had previously played for Cagliari, Inter and Roma, Gianluca Festa was one of the first Italians to feature in the Premier League, arriving at Middlesbrough midway through the 1996/97 season – and scoring on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday.
Festa remained with Boro after their relegation that term and helped them make an immediate return to the top flight, staying on Teesside until 2002.
Attilio Lombardo
Capped 18 times by Italy, tireless winger Attilio Lombardo joined Crystal Palace in 1997 and found the net on his debut against Everton.
The ex-Sampdoria and Juventus star dazzled for the Eagles, earning himself a recall to the national team set-up, and ended up serving as caretaker player-manager after Steve Coppell moved into the director of football role.
Davide Santon
Prodigious left-back Davide Santon moved from Inter to Newcastle late in the summer 2011 transfer window and went on to make 82 Premier League appearances for Tyneside’s finest.
The eight-cap Italy international enjoyed his best campaign in 2012/13, helping the Magpies avoid relegation and scooping the Magpies’ Player of the Year award.
Angelo Ogbonna
A reliable presence at the heart of the West Ham defence for a number of years, Angelo Ogbonna signed from Juventus in the summer of 2015.
He went on to make 201 Premier League appearances for the Hammers, helping them finish seventh in his first season with the club and sixth in 2020/21.
Graziano Pelle
Compared to compatriot Luca Toni for his impressive target-man attributes, Graziano Pelle made his mark on English football with Southampton.
Signed from Feyenoord in 2014, Pelle scored 23 Premier League goals in two seasons as a Saints player, winning Player of the Month in September of his first campaign – a month during which he produced an incredible bicycle kick to secure victory over QPR.
Carlo Cudicini
Brought in from Italian lower-league outfit Castel di Sangro in 1999, Carlo Cudicini spent four seasons as Chelsea’s number one and was a dependable back-up to Petr Cech for a further five.
The son of ex-Milan and Roma goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini also turned out in the Premier League for Tottenham and kept a total of 64 clean sheets in the competition.
Benito Carbone
Striker Benito Carbone turned out for five Premier League clubs between 1996 and 2002, making the majority of his appearances for Sheffield Wednesday – who signed him from Inter for a club-record £3m.
A big hit with the Wednesday fans, Carbone later had stints at Aston Villa, Bradford, Derby and Middlesbrough scoring 35 English top-flight goals overall.
Fabrizio Ravanelli
A Serie A champion and Champions League winner with Juventus, Fabrizio Ravanelli represented quite a coup for Middlesbrough in the summer of 1996.
And the bleach-haired striker wasted no time in starting to repay his £7m price tag, hitting a hat-trick on his Premier League debut against Liverpool. He scored 17 goals in 35 games for Boro, and later added nine more for Derby.
Roberto Di Matteo
Chelsea’s record signing when he arrived from Lazio for £4.9m in 1996, classy and versatile midfielder Roberto Di Matteo soon became a firm fan favourite at Stamford Bridge.
One of the Blues’ most important players of the late 90s, he chalked up 119 Premier League appearances before injury problems forced him to retire aged 31.
Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli arrived at Manchester City with a reputation for being, well, temperamental – and while he certainly lived up to that (case in point: that time he and some mates set off a firework inside his house…), he also showed his quality on the pitch.
The ex-Inter frontman, who later spent a season at Liverpool, scored 13 goals in City’s title-winning campaign of 2011/12, including a brace in the famous 6-1 demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford, as well as assisting that goal by Sergio Aguero in the decisive final-day win over QPR.
Jorginho
One of the finest tempo-setting midfielders around in his prime, Jorginho made almost 150 Premier League appearances for Chelsea after joining for £50m from Napoli in 2018.
The Euro 2020 winner, renowned for his fiendishly hard to save hopping penalty technique, crossed London to Arsenal halfway through the 2022/23 season and continued to prove his worth as a disciplined deep-lying playmaker.
Gianluca Vialli
Sorely missed throughout the game, Gianluca Vialli was among Italy’s standout players of the 80s and 90s, and he finished his career in the Premier League with Chelsea.
A wonderfully well-rounded centre-forward who could operate in a variety of other roles, the former Juventus and Sampdoria star joined the Blues on a free transfer ahead of the 1996/97 campaign and went on to score 21 goals in 58 top-flight outings, also spending two-and-a-half years as player-manager.
Paolo Di Canio
Unquestionably one of the biggest characters of the Premier League era, Paolo Di Canio brought his maverick genius to Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton.
But it was with the Hammers that the famously feisty forward, formerly of Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, Milan and Celtic, made his biggest impact on English football – and his jaw-dropping volley for the East Londoners against Wimbledon in March 2000 remains nothing short of iconic.
Gianfranco Zola
No Italian has affected the Premier League as profoundly as Gianfranco Zola, the pint-sized magician who delighted Chelsea fans and neutrals alike during his six-and-a-half-year stay in the English top flight.
Arriving at Stamford Bridge from Parma in November 1996, Zola won the prestigious FWA Footballer of the Year award in his first season and scored some seriously special goals – including 12 from free-kicks, among the most in Prem history.
