The new nugget of Italian "pallavolo" (volleyball), Alessandro Michieletto (2m11), was born only three years later (2001), when captain Simone Gianelli (1996) was just about to utter his first words.

Only the central replacement Simone Anzani can remember some memories of the glorious era of the "Fenomeni", this Italy which walked on the international scene (triple world champion from 1990 to 1998), but not on the Games (2nd in 1996) .

Headed by Andrea Giani, record holder for the number of caps with the selection (474 ​​between 1988 and 2005).

Aged 32, Anzani is indeed the only one of the 14 players selected for the World Cup to pass the 26-year mark.

After the failure of the Tokyo Olympics last summer, where Italy was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Argentina, the federation has indeed decided to prepare a new cycle with a view to the following Olympics, in Paris in 2024.

Make way for a new coach, Ferdinando De Giorgi, who was precisely the smuggler of the "Fenomeni".

And exit half of the players present in Tokyo, including the two totems, Ivan Zaytsev (33 years old) and the naturalized Cuban Osmany Juantorena (36 years old).

Clean space has been made for the talented youth, led by 2019 junior world vice-champions Daniele Lavia (22, receiver-attacker), Francesco Recine (23, receiver-attacker) and Ausibio Leandro Mosca (22, central ).

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As well as by Michieletto (receiver-attacker also), he climbed to the highest step in the world among juniors in October 2021 … a few weeks after being crowned European champion with Italy among the "A".

"Make Your Place"

An unexpected title obtained a month after the Games, certainly in a particular post-Olympic context, but came to accredit the idea of ​​​​a renewal of the Italian selection, in the trough of the wave at the end of the 2010s.

"This new generation is very young but already very strong. Because it has made its place in the Italian championship", one of the best in the world, and thus hardened, underlines Roberto Ciamarra, the assistant (Italian ) of Andrea Giani in the France team.

At 20, Michieletto has indeed already two seasons in the legs as a holder in Trento, where Gianelli (26) had also earned his stripes before the age of 20 (he now plays in Perugia).

Of the current starting six, only the sharp Yuri Romano (25), promoted to selection in place of Zaytsev, was barred last season, in Milan by Jean Patry.

He packed his bags for Piacenza to save playing time in 2022-2023 and, questioned before the qualification of France on Monday, wanted to find her in the quarters of the World Cup in order to "offer a revenge" for the semi-final of Nations League won by the Blues (3-0) in July in Bologna.

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Gianelli had braided laurels to Andrea "GianGio" Giani, "a legend. For us he is an idol, a great guy and now a great coach."

The glorious past of an Italy with an undoubtedly radiant future.

© 2022 AFP