Petrarca Rugby is a professional rugby union club from Padua, Italy, currently competing in the top tier of the Italian rugby union, the Serie A Elite.

Founded in 1947, the team is the rugby union branch of the Unione Sportiva Petrarca, an omnisport club that includes also basketball, futsal, volleyball, fencing and football.

They have won 15 league titles, 11 of them between 1969–70 and 1986–87 seasons; their most recent successes in the Italian championship came 24 years after their latest feat, at the end of the 2010–11 season, and in recent years appearing in four straight finals 3 against rugby delta Rovigo (2020-21,2021-22,2022-23)and 1 against rugby viadana (2023-24) and winning two (2021-22 and 2023-24).

Petrarca is the tied 2nd most successful side in the Italian championship with Benetton rugby (15 time champions) and behind amatori rugby Milano (18 time champions)

Honours

  • Italian championship Champions (15): 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 2010–11, 2017–18, 2021−22, 2023−24 Runners-up (3): 1997–98, 1998–99,2020−21,2022-23
  • Coppa Italia/Excellence Trophy Champions (4): 1981–82, 2000–01, 2021−22, 2022−23 Runners-up (4): 1980–81, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2015–16

Current squad

The squad for the Serie A Elite season is:

Petrarca Padova 2025-2026 squad
Props Italy Filippo Alongi Argentina Octavio Barbati* Italy Valerio Bizzotto Italy Sergio Pelliccioli Italy Federico Pisani Argentina Luciano Torres Hookers Italy Francesco Minervino Argentina Thomas Montilla* Italy Tommaso Scramoncin Locks Argentina Diego Sebastian Galetto* Italy Filippo Marchetti New Zealand Thomas Nowlan Italy Federico TelandroBack row Italy Jacopo Botturi Italy Nardo Casolari Italy Enrico Ghigo Italy Davide Goldin Italy Toa Halafihi England Alex Minozzi* Italy Luca Nostran Argentina Mariano Romanini* Italy Andrea Trotta Scrum-halves Italy Alberto Chillon Italy Lorenzo Citton Italy Mattia Jimenez Fly-halves Italy Samuele Destro Australia Daniel Donato* Australia Liam RichmanCentres Italy Marco Broggin Italy Andrea De Masi Argentina Marcos De Sanctis* Italy Riccardo Ioannucci Italy Dewi Passarella Italy Vittorio Trez Italy Alessandro Santinello Wings Italy Mattia Dalla Silvestra Italy Giovanni Scagnolari Italy Marco Scalabrin Fullbacks Scotland Scott Lyle Italy Matteo Minozzi Italy Gianmarco Pietramala
(c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. * denotes players qualified to play for Italy on residency or dual nationality. Players and their allocated positions from the Petrarca website.

Selected former players

Italian players

Former players who have played for Petrarca and have caps for Italy:

Overseas players

Former players who have played for Petrarca and have caps for their respective country:

Statistics

European Challenge Cup (1996–2014)

SeasonPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst
1996-975104118148
1997-986024108212
2001-026204114223
2002-0320023681
2003-0420023275
2004-05200242126
2006-07600647298
2007-08610573190
2008-096303112206
2009-10600695180
2010-11410368135

European Shield

SeasonPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst
2002-036312140118
2003-04420293110
2004-05420293110

Heineken Cup (1995–2014)

SeasonPlayedWonDrawnLostForAgainst
1998-99610579169
1999-2000600676282

External links