Roberto Venturato (born 14 April 1963) is an Australian-born Italian football coach and former player, most recently in charge as manager of

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

club

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, sinc ...

Playing career

Venturato was born in Australia to Italian immigrants who moved back to

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

in 1973. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he spent the majority of his career playing in the minor professional leagues of Italy (as well as amateur level) for a number of teams, most notably Cremonese and Pergocrema. He retired in 1996 after two seasons with then-amateurs

Pizzighettone Pizzighettone ( Pizzighettonese: ) is a ''comune'' of the Province of Cremona in the Italian region Lombardy. The main population centre is located on the river Adda and is divided into two parts: Pizzighettone on the east bank and Gera on the ...

Coaching career

After retiring from active football, Venturato stayed at

, where he took over a role as youth coach and non-playing staff member. In 2002, he was named new head coach and guided the club to win the

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

title, thus ensuring a historic first promotion to the professional football ranks for the small Lombardian club. In 2005, he won one further promotion, guiding Pizzighettone to win the Serie C2 playoffs, and remained at the club until 2007 serving as head coach for two full seasons at Serie C1 level. After relegating in 2007, Venturato left Pizzighettone to serve as

Emiliano Mondonico Emiliano Mondonico (9 March 1947 – 29 March 2018) was an Italian professional footballer and coach. He played as a winger. His playing career was spent mostly with Cremonese, where it began and ended. Mondonico's 31-year-long managerial care ...

's assistant at Cremonese. He stayed at Cremonese also in 2008 as

Ivo Iaconi Ivo Iaconi (born 11 March 1956 in Teramo) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career Iaconi played mostly with Serie C and amateur clubs, starting his career with Giulianova in the 1970s. He retired in 1992 after Giulianov ...

's assistant, a role he maintained also after the reappointment of Mondonico during that very season. In March 2009 he replaced Mondonico as new head coach of Cremonese, serving at this role until June 2010, when he left after losing the Serie C1 promotion playoff final to

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

. After two years without a club during which he took a job as a financial promoter, Venturato moved back into management as head coach of Serie D club Pergolettese (heir of his former playing club Pergocrema), which he promptly guided to promotion to Serie C2 on his first and only season in charge. In October 2013 he took over at Serie D club

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

, being however removed from his managerial duties in January 2014 due to poor results. He successively returned to Pergolettese (now back to Serie D) the following season. In July 2015 Venturato was named new head coach of

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

in the

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

league, replacing long-time manager

Claudio Foscarini Claudio Foscarini (born 19 November 1958) is an Italian football coach who last was in charge of Padova. Career Early career He started his coaching career as youth coach for Virescit Boccaleone (who later merged with Alzano to form Alzano Vire ...

. On his first full season in charge, Foscarini won promotion to

as Lega Pro champions, and was confirmed for the club's 2016–17 Serie B campaign, which Venturato started with style thanks to five consecutive wins in the first five games of the season. In the

2018–19 Serie B The 2018–19 Serie B (known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 87th season of Serie B in Italy since its establishment in 1929. A total of 19 teams contested in the 2018–19 season, instead of the usual 22 teams, due to the exclusi ...

season, Venturato successfully led Cittadella to seventh place in the regular season and then a spot in the promotion playoff finals, eliminating third-placed Benevento in the semi-finals. Venturato left Cittadella by the end of the

2020–21 Serie B The 2020–21 Serie B (known as the Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) was the 89th season of the Serie B since its establishment in 1929. It started on 25 September 2020 and ended on 10 May 2021. On 5 November 2020, Serie B announced it would ...

season, after six years in charge, following a 2–1 aggregate defeat to

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

in the promotion playoff finals. On 5 January 2022, he was appointed new head coach of Serie B club

, signing a one-and-a-half year contract. He was dismissed on 9 October 2022, following a 2–0 loss at

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

, leaving SPAL in fourteenth place in the

2022–23 Serie B The 2022–23 Serie B (known as the Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons) is the 91st season of the Serie B since its establishment in 1929. Changes The following teams have changed division since the 2021–22 season: To Serie B Relegated fro ...

league table.

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturato, Roberto 1963 births Living people Italian footballers Association football midfielders Venezia F.C. players U.S. Cremonese players Italian football managers U.S. Cremonese managers A.S. Cittadella managers S.P.A.L. managers Serie B managers