Which players have pulled on the Italy jersey the most times while representing Roma at club level?
Roma first contributed a player to the Italian national team when first captain Attilio Ferraris earned his third cap – the first two having come when he was a Fortitudo player, pre-merger – on New Year’s Day in 1928.
Since then, Roma have seen several of their players playing for Italy – some even winning international tournaments in the process.
On the flipside, there have been some Roma greats who didn’t get the chance they deserved with Italy. For example, Agostino Di Bartolomei, captain of the second Roma side to win the Scudetto, finished his career without a cap to his name. Roberto Pruzzo, the second highest goalscorer in club history, only played for Italy six times.
In March 2025, Italy named a squad with no Roma players in at all, for the first time since June 2011.
So, which Roma players have played for Italy the most? Here are the top 10, ranked solely by the number of caps they earned while a Roma player, rather than their career overall.
An asterisk indicates a player still active for Roma and Italy.
1. Daniele De Rossi – 117
Embed from Getty ImagesAs well as being the player with the second most appearances for Roma across their history, De Rossi is joint-fifth on Italy’s all-time appearance chart.
After emerging from the Roma academy and establishing himself with Italy at U21 level – including winning the European Championship in 2004 at that age bracket – De Rossi’s senior international debut came in September 2004, when he was 21 years old. He scored to mark the occasion, too.
Not even a year later, he inherited the captain’s armband for the second half of a friendly against Iceland.
De Rossi was the youngest member of the Italy squad that won the 2006 World Cup; although he missed a portion of the tournament due to suspension after a red card in the group stage for lashing out at Brian McBride, he came on as a substitute in the final and scored in the penalty shootout.
De Rossi’s Italy career lasted for more than a decade after that; his final cap was awarded in November 2017 during the first leg of the World Cup play-off with Sweden. He could have bagged himself another cap in the second leg, but famously encouraged Gian Piero Ventura to send on Lorenzo Insigne instead as Italy headed towards defeat. Nevertheless, De Rossi retired from international duty as his country’s highest-scoring midfielder, with 21 goals.
2. Francesco Totti – 58
Embed from Getty ImagesTotti is, of course, the only player to outrank De Rossi for Roma appearances. Despite retiring from international duty at the age of 29, he fittingly remains the runner-up to his successor as club captain for Italy caps earned while a Roma player.
A one-club man, Totti represented his country 58 times, starting in October 1998 – the same month he went on to become Roma captain. While he only scored 9 goals for Italy, he had more of an emphasis on assists when playing for the Azzurri. In fact, he has the joint-most recorded assists of any player in Italy’s history (25, equal with Andrea Pirlo).
Totti claimed the man of the match award in the Euro 2000 final, despite Italy losing to France. Six years later, he helped inspire his nation to World Cup glory, finishing joint-top of the tournament’s assists chart.
After announcing his retirement from Italy duty in 2007, having stayed away since the World Cup, Totti was later considered by some pundits – and more importantly, coaches – for an international comeback, even as late as for the 2014 World Cup or Euro 2016, but it never materialised.
3. Bruno Conti – 47
Embed from Getty ImagesRoma youth graduate Conti had been back in the capital for little over a year, after his second formative loan spell with Genoa, when he made his bow for Italy in October 1980, at the age of 25.
By 1982, Conti was a standout player in Italy’s World Cup winning squad. In fact, a certain Pelé labelled him the best player in the tournament.
The following season, Conti carried on his positive momentum and won the Scudetto with Roma.
The winger was in Italy’s 1986 World Cup squad as well, but the title defence only lasted until the round of 16 and Conti called time on his international career after the competition, before going on to spend five more years with Roma as a player and countless more in off-the-field roles.
4. Giuseppe Giannini – 47
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter reaching the final of the U21 Euros in 1986, Giannini made his senior Italy debut that December.
By that point, it was nearly five years since his Roma debut as a 17-year-old, but he had only really started to play regularly during the 1984-85 season.
Giannini went on to become Roma’s captain in 1987 and cemented his place as an Italy regular around the same time. He went to Euro 1988 and then the 1990 World Cup on home soil.
Although he took part in some qualifiers for Euro 1992, his international career was over by the time it came around; his last cap was in October 1991. Giannini stayed with Roma until 1996.
5. Bryan Cristante – 43*
Embed from Getty ImagesCristante earned the first five caps of his Italy career during his time as an Atalanta player, largely over the course of the breakthrough 2017-18 campaign that prompted Roma to buy him.
The midfielder has struggled to consistently convince fans since then, but plenty of coaches have backed him, including for the national team.
Over his first couple of years with Roma, his Italy appearances were sporadic. For example, more than 12 months passed between his sixth and seventh caps.
Cristante only played once in Euro 2020 qualification, but earned a place in the squad that won the competition (in 2021) and has built up his collection of caps more often since.
He went to Euro 2024 as well, before returning to the international fold after more than a year away in October 2025.
However, on his most recent cap, he missed a penalty in the play-off shootout that cost Italy a place at the 2026 World Cup.
6. Alessandro Florenzi – 36
Embed from Getty ImagesFlorenzi earned a place in Roma’s first team after returning from a loan spell with Crotone in 2012. By that November, with just 12 Serie A appearances under his belt, he was being awarded his senior international debut. Mainly playing in midfield back then, Florenzi would still be active with the U21s until 2013.
Riding the wave of his progress, the Rome-born player went to Euro 2016 with Italy but suffered an ACL injury while playing for Roma a few months later.
Post-recovery, Florenzi regained his role in the team (at right-back by this point) and served as club captain for half a season before leaving for the first of a few loan spells away in January 2020. He had 35 Italy caps to his name by the time he joined Valencia and added one more in between his return from Spain and next move to PSG.
Florenzi was part of the Italy squad that won Euro 2020, while still under contract with Roma but technically listed as a PSG player, despite the final falling after the official end of his loan spell.
7. Christian Panucci – 36
Embed from Getty ImagesFormerly with the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea, Panucci had already been capped 21 times by Italy when he was added to a Roma squad that had recently won the Scudetto in 2001.
The defender didn’t earn any caps that year, but was back on the international scene in 2002, when he represented his country 11 times.
Panucci stayed with Roma until 2009 and only stopped playing for Italy a year earlier, ending up on a total of 57 caps by featuring at Euro 2008 after missing out on the World Cup because of a prior fall-out with Marcello Lippi in their Inter days.
8. Lorenzo Pellegrini – 35 *
Embed from Getty ImagesTowards the end of Pellegrini’s two-year spell with Sassuolo in 2017, he made his international debut at the age of 20. Fittingly, he partnered De Rossi in midfield.
Roma activated their buyback clause for Pellegrini just a few weeks later, after he also played in the U21 European Championship (where he scored a bicycle kick).
Since then, Pellegrini has made more than 300 appearances for Roma and committed several years to the captaincy role.
On the international stage, he went to another U21 Euros in 2019, but he already had 10 senior caps by then.
Pellegrini was also included in the senior Italy squad that won Euro 2020, but he had to pull out before the tournament because of injury.
9. Simone Perrotta – 29
Embed from Getty ImagesAlthough born in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, Perrotta and his family moved back to Italy when he was five years old and he spent his entire career playing for Italian clubs.
Roma were the last he represented and the one he played for the most; after joining in 2004, the midfielder spent nine seasons playing for the club.
His international debut in November 2002 was in his Chievo days. Roma signed him shortly after his involvement in Euro 2004.
Perrotta was the third Roma player, with Totti and De Rossi, in Italy’s World Cup winning squad in 2006. He was left out of the next edition in 2010, though, having not played for his country since 2009, and took that as a signal to retire from international duty.
10. Damiano Tommasi – 25
Embed from Getty ImagesTommasi had only been an U21 international for Italy when Roma lured him away from his local club, Hellas Verona, in 1996 as a 22-year-old. It was the same year he’d become a European champion at U21 level.
The midfielder went on to give a decade of service to Roma and earned all 25 of his senior Italy caps during that time.
His debut was in November 1998, but after his second cap a month later, Tommasi had to wait until 2001 – while on course to winning the Scudetto with Roma – to register more frequently on the international scene.
After featuring at the 2002 World Cup, his last cap for his country was in November 2003, almost three years before his departure from Roma for Levante.
This article was originally published on 11th September, 2025, and has been updated since.
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