Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

club based in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 2019, as the women's wing of

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

, one of the most important men's basketball team in Europe. Virtus is owned by the coffee entrepreneur

Massimo Zanetti Massimo Zanetti (born 12 February 1948 in Treviso) is an Italian entrepreneur and former politician, owner of Segafredo, a global coffee company. Since 2016, Zanetti has also owned the Italian basketball team Virtus Bologna, one of the most su ...

History

2019–2021: Beginnings

In July 2019, the CEO of

, Luca Baraldi, announced the opening of a women's basketball wing, to participate in the Serie A1 championship. In the same month, Alberto Piombo, a

tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations ...

, was appointed president of the women's wing. The 2019–20 season started with some troubles for Virtus, however, it was later cancelled due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In the 2020–21, Virtus signed among others

Abby Bishop Abby Bishop (born 29 November 1988) is an Australian former professional basketball player. She played in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) between 2005 and 2025 for the Australian Institute of Sport (WNBL team), Australian Institut ...

, Brooque Williams and Ana Marjia Begic, while it confirmed many players of the previous season, like the team captain, Elisabetta Tassinari. Moreover, the new head coach was Lorenzo Serventi. Virtus ended the regular season at the fourth place and was defeated in the national semi-finals by

Reyer Venezia S.S.P. Reyer Venezia Mestre, commonly known as Reyer Venezia or simply Reyer, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Venice, Veneto. The club currently plays in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the highest tier of basketball i ...

2021–present: Zandalasini era

On 20 May 2021, the club signed the 25 years old

Cecilia Zandalasini Cecilia Zandalasini (; born 16 March 1996) is an Italian basketball player for the Golden State Valkyries of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She also plays for the Italy women's national basketball team, Italian national team. ...

, widely considered among the best Italian players of all time and 2017 WNBA Champion with the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

. On the same day, president Zanetti announced Lino Lardo as the new head coach. Lardo, who already coached the Black V's men's wing during the early 2010s, is also the coach of Italy's women's national team. The roster was completed within a few days: on 24 May, Virtus signed also Sabrina Cinili, a point guard from

Famila Schio Pallacanestro Femminile Schio, also known as Beretta Famila Schio for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional women's basketball team based in Schio that competes in Serie A. Team history Founded in 1973, Schio enjoyed its first succes ...

, on 27 May

Ivana Dojkić Ivana Dojkić (born 24 December 1997) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Famila Basket Schio of the Lega Basket Femminile. She previously played for the New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball A ...

, a Croatian shooting guard from UKS Praha on 29 May

Myisha Hines-Allen Myisha Hines-Allen (born May 30, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In college she played for the University of Louisville. Growing up in Montclair, New ...

, a small forward from Lattes Montpellier who became WNBA Champion in 2019, and on 30 May

Brianna Turner Brianna Turner (born July 5, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college women's basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketb ...

, a power forward from

Adelaide Lightning The Adelaide Lightning are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, and will play their home games at the State Basketball ...

. Despite good premises, in November 2021 the team was eliminated in the group stage of the EuroCup. On 19 April 2022, during the national semi-finals against Reyer Venezia, Lino Lardo was fired and his assistant Angela Gianolla became the new head coach. The team ousted Reyer Venezia by 2–1 in the national semi-finals, reaching the finals for the first time in its history and qualifying for the EuroLeague Women. However, Virtus was defeated 3–1 by

. In the following season, Giampiero Ticchi became the new head coach and the club signed important international players like

Iliana Rupert Iliana Rupert (born 12 July 2001) is a French basketball player for the Golden State Valkyries of the Women’s National Basketball Association and Çukurova Basketbol of the Turkish Super League. Professional career On December 6, 2024, Ruper ...

, Cheyenne Parker and

Kitija Laksa Kitija Laksa (born 21 May 1996) is a Latvian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. She previously played for Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League, EuroLeague Women and the Latvi ...

. In 2022–23, Virtus played for the first time in the EuroLeague Women, but it was ousted in the regular season with a winning record of 5–9. The club ended the Italian championship's season at the first place but, once again, it lost the national finals against Famila Schio by 2–0. During the first game of the series in

PalaDozza PalaDozza is an indoor sporting arena located at Piazza Azzarita Manfredi 8, in Bologna, Italy. It was named after Giuseppe Dozza, the long-time communist mayor of Bologna, who served from 1945 to 1966. In Italy, the arena is frequently nickname ...

, Virtus set a new all-time record for LBF with 5,337 attendances.Virtus Bologna-Famila Schio, record di presenza di tutti i tempi per il basket femminile
Corriere della Sera

Season by season

Players

Current roster

References

External links

Official website

Virtus () was a specific virtue in ancient Rome that carried connotations of valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, character, and worth, all perceived as masculine strengths. It was thus a frequently stated virtue of Roman emperors, and was perso ...

EuroLeague Women clubs 2019 establishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 2019 Organisations based in Bologna Sport in Bologna {{Italy-basketball-team-stub