Volleyball is the most practised women's sport in Italy and FIPAV (the Italian Volleyball Federation) can count on more than 100,000 registered athletes.

Already the national team has gained a position in the Volley elite and the "blue" girls gained their first Olympic qualification at the Sydney 2000 Games. In order to reach this goal the Italian Federation worked out a particular project called "Club Italia" with the aim of creating the conditions for the six blue girls to develop their technique up to the highest level. In this perspective FIPAV hosted the 1999 Womens European Championship and finished third in Rome.

In the past the best performances at international level are the third position at the 1989 European Championships which took place in Germany and the fifth place at the 1998 World Championships which took place in Japan.

The blue girls were also ranked in 4th position in the 1991 and 1993 editions of the European Championships.

Other important achievements were the victories at the Mediterranean Games and University Games in 1991 and 1997.

In the last few seasons the development in Italian women's Volleyball has been steadily growing, especially at youth level. In 1995 the national youth team won the European Championships and reached third at the World Championships; in 1996 the Junior Italian team conquered the continental title for the first time.

Italy took also part in the FIVB Grand Prix in 1994 edition, reaching a respectable 8th position, as well as fifth in 1997, fifth in 1998, fourth in 1999 and fifth in 2003. In 1999 the Italian team also reached fifth in the World Cup.

In 2000 the "Azzurre" reached, for the first time, the Olympic qualification winning the Tokyo Tournament, after their second place in the Bremen Tournament. In the Olympic Games reached the 9th place.

In 2001 Italy reached their first continental final and winning the silver medal to the European of Varna in Bulgaria

In 2002 the Italian Team "Azzurre" came second place at the Montreux Volley Masters and the World Championship in Germany.

2004 saw the side qualify for the Olympic Games, win the Montreux Volley Masters,  come second place at the FIVB Grand Prix and fifth place in the Olympic Games.

2005 saw the side win the silver medal at the FIVB Grand Prix and the silver medal in the European Championship.

In 2006 they won the bronze medal in the FIVB World Grand Prix.

In 2007 the Italian Team repeated this feat and also won the Gold Medal at the European Championship and the Gold Medal at the FIVB World Cup.

In the 2008 they picked up their third bronze medal of the FIVB World Grand Prix fifth place in the Olympic Games.

In 2009 the Italian Team won the Mediterranean Games and the European Championship.

Born in Modena on 29 of August 1964, Italy's coach Massimo Barbolini began working with the men's teams at Panini Modena as assistant coach to head coach Julio Velasco. After this experience he became coach in Agrigento and then Modena.

In the 1993-1994 season he started working with women's teams in Matera.

He remained in Matera for three seasons; in the 1996-1997 season he was in Rome where he remained only for one year. In the 1997-1998 season he went to Perugia where he remained until 2007.

With clubs he won:

* 4 Italian Championships
* 5 Italian Cups
* 2 CEV Cups
* 2 Champions Cup
* 1 European Supercup

Since 2007 Massimo has been working with the Senior Women's National Team. With the Italian National Team he won:

*2 European Championships (2007-2009)
*1 World Cup (2007)
*1 World Grand Champion Cup (2009)
*1 Mediterranean Games