The Italian men's national team begins the final stage of its preparation before the European Championship. The "Azzurri" gather on September 3rd in Florence, where they will stay until September 7th and train at "PalaBigMat".
This will be Ferdinando De Giorgi's team's last camp before the start of EuroVolley. Italy opens its participation on September 10th in Naples against Sweden, with the match to be played at "Piazza del Plebiscito".
Among the summoned middle blockers are Andrea Truocchio, Gianluca Galassi, Giovanni Sanguinetti, and Pardo Mati. Truocchio was already part of Italy's extended squad for the Nations League, and his presence in Florence will allow De Giorgi to conduct full six-on-six training.
Roberto Russo's absence is notable. The middle blocker is not among those called up for the last camp before the European Championship. The Italian Federation has not announced an official reason for his absence.
Russo was part of De Giorgi's plans during this year's Nations League and was included in the squad for the final part of the tournament, which makes his absence from the group for Florence even more significant. However, there is currently no official information that he is definitively out of the EuroVolley squad.
Also out of the camp group are Giovanni Gargiulo, who is already preparing with his club team Lube, and Leandro Mosca, who is involved in Cuneo's preparation.
The other big question mark for De Giorgi is related to Alessandro Michieletto. The outside hitter remains in the national team squad, but his participation in the European Championship is still not certain.
Michieletto continues his recovery, and according to information fromVolleyball.it, after overcoming back problems, he suffered a stress fracture in his right foot in early July. Since then, the outside hitter has not trained fully, and new medical examinations are pending to determine if he will be cleared to return to training. The last camp in Florence will be crucial for whether Michieletto will be ready for the start of the European Championship.
Thus, Italy enters the final stretch before EuroVolley with two serious question marks – Roberto Russo is out of the last camp, and Alessandro Michieletto's condition continues to be closely monitored.
Italy begins the European Championship on September 10th against Sweden in Naples.

Italy's squad for the camp in Florence:

Setters:Simone Giannelli, Riccardo Sbertoli

Outside Hitters:Mattia Bottolo, Daniele Lavia, Alessandro Michieletto, Francesco Sani, Luca Porro

Middle Blockers:Gianluca Galassi, Giovanni Sanguinetti, Pardo Mati, Andrea Truocchio

Opposite Hitters:Kamil Rychlicki, Yuri Romano

Libero:Fabio Balaso, Gabriele Laurenzano

photo: Nikolay Varadinov