A new renaissance for Italy. It was a whole season unbelievable with goals, medals, prizes, records and world championships.
How beautiful is Italy! This year the Italians have decided to do something more. 2021 was a record year for Italy, which managed to establish itself in the world in multiple disciplines. Athletes, singers and scholars have given incredible emotions, reaching the top of Europe and the world throughout the calendar year.
The apotheosis is reached with the victory of the 2020 European football championships, but how can we forget Berrettini, the first Italian in a Wimbledon final, the record of medals at the Olympics, Eurovision 2021 and the Golden Globe won by Laura Pausini, as well as the Nobel Prize in Physics. 2021 is the year of redemption and Italian enthusiasm.
After a year and a half of the pandemic, Italy has reacted thanks to an incredible desire for revenge and normality. It has been a record year for Italy, which is often identified only with the usual stereotypes such as food, good weather and the good life, but not in recent months.
The long season of Italian triumphs has been incredible. But let's backtrack the year of Italian records together.
Laura Pausini wins the Golden Globe Awards
The first triumph came on February 28 with Laura Pausini who won the Golden Globe Awards as the best original song. The song, by the singer from Romagna, entitled “Io Sì”, won the prize in the foreign film category as the soundtrack of Edoardo Ponti's “The life ahead” with Sophia Loren.
Eurovision: Måneskin bring Italian music around the world
Chronologically it was not the first Italian triumph, but Måneskin's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest was one of the most important for Italy.
The Roman musical band, after 31 years, managed to win the victory in Italy, beating France. Måneskin have conquered millions of fans, even opening the Rolling Stones concert and winning the MTV European Music Awards in Budapest.
The Italian apotheosis: the national football team wins EURO 2020
If Italy's exploit were to have a peak, probably, everyone's memory would go to the magical night of Wembley, when the Italian national team won EURO 2020.
On 11 July 2021, after a good 53 years, Italy was crowned European champion with a memorable victory against the hosts of England at the Wembley stadium in London. An exciting match, the culmination of a triumphal journey, which confirmed the consecration of the national team coached by Roberto Mancini after having faced sacred monsters such as Belgium, leader of the FIFA ranking and the red furies of Spain.
The final was heart-pounding and ended only on penalties. Gianluigi Donnarumma stole the show from his teammates. He parried the decisive penalty and won the award as the best player of the Euro 2020.
The record of medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
At the end of the European Championship, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were also held and Italy stood out, beating the record of medals won. Italy has won 40 medals, 10 of which are gold. The Gold medals of Marcell Jacobs in the 100 meters and Gianmarco Tamberi in the high jump, which reaches 2.37 meters on a par with the Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim were the most surprising for Italians.
The tenth and last gold in Tokyo comes from another trick to England with the 4x100 relay, with the blue poker, composed of Lorenzo Patta, Marcell Jacobs, Eseosa Desalu and Filippo Tortu, who finish the race in 37 '' 50, anticipating the British by a hundredth of a second. In the middle, a series of gold, silver and bronze medals exalted the virtues of the Italians in various disciplines.
Lovie Awards: Visit Italy beats BBC in the final
An unprecedented achievement by Visit Italy, which beat the BBC in the final and won the 'Best Viral Video' category at the Lovie Awards 2021 in London, Europe's most important competition in the world of the Internet (the name is a tribute to Ada Lovelace, the first programmer in history).
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, the organisation founded to guide the progress of the internet, announced the winners of its 11th edition. Visit Italy, the channel promoting Italy around the world, won the "People's Lovie" award for the best viral video in Europe, beating the British giant BBC in the final.
Visit Italy triumphs due to its advertising campaign entitled 'Italy: beauty to share', which went viral around the world and obtained over 60 million views. The spot brilliantly portrays the emotions that a visit to Italy can convey, through the most beautiful content shared by travellers themselves on Instagram.
Paralympics record
After the Olympics, at the end of the summer, the Tokyo Paralympics took place which set another Italian record. Italy took home 69 medals won, including 14 golds, 29 silvers and 26 bronzes, beating the previous record that lasted since the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul.
The image of this expedition is undoubtedly the talent and immense strength of Bebe Vio, who won gold in individual foil.
Volleyball Italy is champions of Europe
In the following months, the triumphs did not cease, so much so that Italy in both women's and men's volleyball became European champions. It had never happened that Italy made the double in the same year. First, the blues led by Paola Egonu (best player of the tournament) managed to regain the title 12 years after the last time, beating Serbia 3-1 in the final.
A few weeks later, men's volleyball beat Slovenia in the final, winning their seventh title. Captain Simone Giannelli was even awarded as the best player of the tournament.
Italian tennis: the first Wimbledon final
Italian tennis also had great success with the 20-year-old South Tyrolean tennis player Jannik Sinner, number 10 in the ATP ranking, who beat Monfils in the final, winning the Sofia Open for the second consecutive year, winning the 4th ATP titles out of 5 played finals.
Another Italian, Matteo Berrettini, number 7 in the world of the ATP ranking, jumped to the headlines, not only for winning the final at the Queen's but also for reaching the Wimbledon final. The first Italian in history to reach this milestone, even if he was beaten in the final by the Serbian, number 1 in the world, Novak Djokovic.
Italian cycling and its records
Italian cycling managed to win and establish itself in various disciplines with Filippo Baroncini who won the under 23 world championship and Elisa Balsamo who won the cycling world championships in her category. On 30 October an Italian cyclist, after 22 years, became champion in the Paris-Roubaix. In fact, Sonny Colbrelli from Brescia beat Florian Vermeersch and favorite Mathieu Van der Poel in the sprint.
Therefore, Filippo Ganna, road cyclist and Italian pistard of the Ineos Grenadiers team, rose to the top of the world in the individual time trial, with his second consecutive personal triumph.
Beyond sport: the Italian pastry is world champion
It was a sweet victory for the Italian pastry. It has established itself in the world championships in Lyon anticipating Japan and France. It brought home the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie 2021.
The three young pastry chefs Andrea Restuccia, Lorenzo Puca and Massimo Pica made a chocolate dessert to share, an ice cream cake, a restaurant dessert, a sugar sculpture and a chocolate pièce in the 10 hours available to them.
The Nobel Prize in Physics: the Italian Giorgio Parisi
Not only music, sports and food, but also a Nobel Prize is included in the triumphant Italian year. In fact, at the beginning of October, the Italian professor Giorgio Parisi, in collaboration with the Japanese Syukuro Manabe and the German Klaus Hasselmann, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 "for innovative contributions to the understanding of complex physical systems".
For those who are experts in science, Professor Parisi's discoveries concern the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in the physical system from the atomic scale to the planetary scale.
Italy and the primacy of UNESCO sites
This year in Italy four other sites have been added to the Italian UNESCO heritage, reaching 59 sites included in the World Heritage List. The four additional sites - namely Montecatini Terme, the fourteenth-century fresco cycles of Padua, the arcades of Bologna and the 8000 hectares of Italian forest - have confirmed the greatness of Italy's artistic, cultural and natural heritage.
The small Italian peninsula leaves behind the great and boundless China with its 56 sites.
The list of all the Italian victories in 2021
• Jannik Sinner wins the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne
• Laura Pausini wins the Golden Globe Awards
• The Maneskins win Eurovision
• Matteo Berrettini in London wins the final at the Queen's
• Italy Softball European champion
• The italbasket wins the pre-Olympic tournament
• Italy wins the European football championships
• Matteo Berrettini finalist at Wimbledon
• Vito Dell’Aquila, gold medal for taekwondo
• Federica Cesarini and Valentina Rodini, gold medal for rowing
• Gianmarco Tamberi, gold medal for the high jump
• Marcell Jacobs, gold medal for 100 meters flat
• Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, gold medal in sailing
• Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Simone Consonni and Jonathan Milan, gold medal in the team pursuit
• Massimo Stano, gold medal in the march
• Antonella Palmisano, gold medal in the march
• Lorenzo Patta, Marcell Jacobs, Eseosa Desalu and Filippo Tortu, gold medal for the 4x100 relay
• Luigi Busà, gold medal in Karate
• Jannik Sinner wins the Washington City Open
• Camila Giorgi wins the WTA 1000 in Montreal
• Francesco Bocciardo, gold medal in the 200 freestyle, category S5
• Carlotta Gilli, gold medal in the 100 butterfly, category S13
• Stefano Raimondi, gold medal in the 100 breaststroke, category S9
• Francesco Bocciardo, gold medal in the 100 freestyle, category S5
• Bebe Vio, gold medal in women's foil, category B
• Simone Barlaam, gold medal in the 50 freestyle, category S9
• Arjola Trimi, gold medal in the 50 backstroke, category S3
• Xenia Francesca Palazzo, Vittoria Bianco, Giulia Terzi and Alessia Scortechini, gold medal in the women's 4X100 freestyle relay
• Arjola Trimi, gold medal in the 100 freestyle swimming, category S3
• Carlotta Gilli, gold medal in the 200 mixed medals, category S13
• Giulia Terzi, gold medal in the 100 freestyle swimming, category S7
• Antonio Fantin, gold medal in the 100 freestyle, category S6
• Luca Mazzone, Paolo Cecchetto and Diego Colombari, gold medal in the handbike
• Ambra Sabatini, gold medal in the women's 100 meters final, category T63
• Women's italvolleyball wins the European Championships
• Sonny Colbrelli wins in the World Tour in Benelux
• Gianmarco Tamberi wins the Diamond League
• Sonny Colbrelli wins the online round of the European Cycling Championships
• Italy wins Motocross of Nations 2021
• Men's Italvolleyball wins the European Championships
• Filippo Ganna, world champion in the time trial
• Visititaly.eu wins the Lovie Awards
• Elisa Balsamo, road cycling world champion
• Italy wins the European cricket championships
• Sonny Colbrelli also wins Paris-Roubaix
• Jannik Sinner wins the ATP in Sofia
• Jannik Sinner wins the ATP in Antwerp
• Martina Fidanza is world champion in scratch (cycling)
• Filippo Ganna, Simone Consonni, Francesco Lamon and Liam Bertazzo win the World Championships in Roubaix
• Nicola Bartolini is world champion in the free body
• Elia Viviani is World Champion in the elimination
• The deaf national basketball team is champion of Europe
• Alessia Maurelli, Martina Centofanti, Agnese Duranti, Martina Santandrea and Daniela Mogurean are world champions in rhythmic gymnastics
• Italy wins the European American football championship
• Martina Carraro is the European champion of the 100 breaststroke
• Michele Lamberti, Niccolò Martinenghi, Marzo Orsi and Lorenzo Zazzeri, gold medal in the 4x50 mixed
• Andrea Restuccia, Massimo Pica and Lorenzo Puca, Alessandro Dalmasso won the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie 2021
• Giuseppe Gibboni wins the 56th edition of the Paganini Prize
• Giorgio Parisi wins the Nobel Prize for physics
• Maneskin win at EMA 2021
• Claudia Dipilato, Elena Elshina and Fiorani Laura steal the podium at the Pole World Championships in Master +40 Woman
• Giacomo Fratini, gold medal at Pole Sport World Championship 2021 in Senior man competititìves
• Fabrizia Roccati, gold medal at Pole Sport World Championship 2021 in Master +50 Woman
