With grateful hearts, Italian volleyball stars Simone Giannelli, Alessandro Michieletto, and Yuri Romano concluded their fourth straight year of visit to the Philippines with a gold medal.
In its historic conquest of back-to-back titles in the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, Italy dealt the young and promising Bulgarian team its first loss in seven games, 25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 25-10, to defend its crown on Sunday night before a packed Mall of Asia Arena.
Giannelli was hailed as the tournament’s Best Setter for the second time while Michieletto was named Most Valuable Player.
For his part, Romano led all Italian scorers after erupting for 22 points in the finale that saw him blast the Bulgarians with five aces in the second set to win the Best Opposite award.
“It’s amazing to be here for the second time to be a gold medalist. Something I’ve never imagined in my life. We’re grateful as a team to enjoy playing here. Being a back-to-back champion doesn’t happen a lot of times,” Giannelli said.
Giannelli, who was one of the six players in a mural designed by Filipino street artist Maya Carandang on a court in Parañaque City, visited the location days before the knockout championship game and spoke highly of the hospitality he has experienced in the country.
“It was amazing. I think this is one of the best experiences in my life. I bring the memory back home because it was amazing to be there, to visit that playground. I’m thankful to everybody who did [the mural], the artist, the whole foundation. It’s great to be represented there. I never thought in my life that I’ll be represented [like that] in Manila, [for my portrait] to be there for the rest of my life,” the two-time world best setter said.
Photo: (C) Volleyball World
After finishing as a runner-up to Poland in the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in August, the Italians showed no signs of slowing down and continued their mission all the way to the World Championship.
Newly-minted MVP Michieletto, who is having the summer of a lifetime with the Azzurri’s two medals, is certain that their side is the best in the world at the moment.
“I’m very happy because two times in a row is very difficult in the World Championship against incredible teams. I think we played against Poland better than we did against Bulgaria. But the important thing is, we did it. I’m just very happy because this summer we won two medals. So I can say we are the best in the world,” the 23-year-old outside hitter said.
After falling to Belgium in their group stage encounter in a five-set thriller, Italy seized the chance to get back at the Belgians and went on to win their next meeting in the knockout round with a sweep.
Michieletto dropped 11 points built on nine attacks, and a pair of ace and block to fend off the feisty Bulgarians paced by this edition’s best scorer Aleksandar Nikolov, who in turn, carried out a game-high 23-point performance in a losing effort.
“We didn’t play that well in the pool. But after that, we started to play better again. From playing against Argentina, Belgium, then Poland. We have no secret, but we knew if we wanted to win this match all of us had to play well. Like a perfect machine,” he said.
For Romano, the title repeat proved to be more difficult to achieve than the previous one, but was all the more a confirmation of Italy’s dominance in the volleyball world.
“It’s crazy. I’m so happy to be part of the winning team again. [This one was] difficult. The first one was a bit of a surprise. And now it’s a confirmation. It’s different, but [both] are beautiful. I think all the teams have great mentality. It was not easy. But to win this title, we stayed in the right mentality. We lost a match in the pool phase,” Romano said.
“We played all together even in the tough moments. We stayed all together in the bad moments. This is what I’m most proud of with the team,” he added.
The Italian trio extended its gratitude to the Filipino fans one final time over the country’s 16-day hosting of the tournament. The same crowd which has shown unwavering support to them over the last four years.
“Thank you very much to the Filipino fans. We feel your love a lot. We hope to come back and see you again.”
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
