Italy’s best ever Six Nations campaigns following stellar 2026 showing

Italy headed into the 2026 Six Nations full of confidence after their upturn in form at the tournament in recent years.

Back-to-back campaigns without the wooden spoon were enough cause for Italian celebration, but nobody could have anticipated what was to come. 

The Scots were downed 18-15 in Rome in week one, while Ireland were pushed to their limit in Dublin a week later.

However, it was a first-ever victory against England in week four that truly caught the headlines. 

Online betting sites gave the Azzurri little hope of beating the heavyweight English.

Platforms such as Lucky Rebel had them earmarked as a distant 5/2 outsider despite being on home turf, but the bookies would soon live to regret their pricing. 

Italy stun England in Rome 

The visitors comfortably led 18-10 with just 20 minutes remaining after tries from Thomas Freeman and Tom Roebuck, as well as the steady boot of Finlay Smith.

Then, all hell broke loose as both Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje were sent to the sin bin, and the Azzurri smelled blood.

Paolo Garbisi sent over a penalty to reduce the arrears before Leonardo Marin set the Olimpico alight with a stunning try eight minutes from full-time.

England would push for the try they needed to secure the win, but Italy held firm, clinging on to a 23-18 triumph and their first victory against the Auld Enemy in 38 attempts. 

The result ensures that 2026 will go down in history as Italy’s finest ever Six Nations campaign, and provides yet another building block for the Azzurri to march their way up the standings in 2027.

But which previous tournaments saw the Italians at their very best? Let’s take a look. 

2007: Murrayfield shell-shocked

Head coach Pierre Berbizier hadn’t promised fireworks before the 2007 Six Nations.

He was too canny for that. Autumn 2006 had been mixed – promising in patches, brutally exposed in others – and anyone who’d watched Italy ship points against tier-one opponents knew that consistency remained a distant luxury. 

But Berbizier knew something outsiders didn’t: this squad had a core capable of detonating on the right afternoon.

Edinburgh, Round 3. Murrayfield, Scotland, quietly fancied at home. And then – six minutes of rugby that Italian supporters have since replayed approximately ten thousand times. 

Mauro Bergamasco went first, all snarl and explosive pace as he bundled over the line with less than a minute on the clock; Andrea Scanavacca added the second barely three minutes later before Kaine Robertson finished off a stellar move to give the Azzurri a stunning 21-0 lead after just six minutes.

Murrayfield was stunned into silence, and despite plenty of huffing and puffing, never truly looked like mounting a comeback. 

Scanavacca finished things off with three second-half penalties before Alessandro Troncon buried the dagger late. 37-17.

Italy’s first-ever away win in the Six Nations, achieved with a bravado that bordered on theatrical.

Round 4 gifted Rome another precious afternoon: 23-20 against Wales, Bergamasco’s late try handed Italy the lead before referee Chris White ended the game in controversial circumstances, telling the Welsh that there was still time for them to take a line out, only to blow for full time.

Italy didn’t care. They had their second win in a single tournament for the first time, catapulting them up to fourth place in the standings, their best-ever finish. 

2013: Parisse’s empire

Jacques Brunel arrived in 2013 carrying baggage.

Autumn 2012 had been a procession of humiliations – South Africa, Samoa, Australia, Argentina, Scotland – each defeat depositing fresh evidence that Italy were drifting, ranked below expectations, perhaps regressing.

You could forgive Brunel for pre-tournament discretion. And yet. The Olimpico for the Six Nations opener against France wasn’t interested in narratives of decline.

The French came, and the French left the Eternal City beaten. 

23-18, and the game’s architecture was pure Azzurri theatre. Sergio Parisse – emperor, colossus, the singular reason opposition coaches lost sleep – drove over early, carrying three Frenchmen with him as though they were mildly inconvenient furniture.

Martin Castrogiovanni, 120 kilograms of tighthead fury, bulldozed a second. Luciano Orquera – perpetually underrated, perpetually brilliant – orchestrated with 10 points from the boot while substitute Kris Burton dropped a goal of such cool impudence that it deserved its own highlight reel.

Les Bleus stunned. Olimpico thunder sustained at a pitch that threatened structural damage to the Curva Nord. 

Round 5 delivered the Irish scalp – 22-15, Italy beating Ireland in the Six Nations for the first time ever.

Orquera’s late penalty, struck under pressure that would have buckled lesser fly-halves, sealed it.

Parisse was everywhere: the lineout, the breakdown, the carry, the counter-ruck. A No. 8 carrying a nation on his back and refusing, absolutely refusing, to buckle beneath the weight. 

Scotland’s 34-10 dismantling in Edinburgh stung; England’s Twickenham grind exposed frailties in the wide channels, particularly following the early injury to Castrogiovanni.

But fourth place again, France and Ireland beaten in the same tournament. Brunel’s battered side had roared.