Born in 1930 as the Italian International Championships, the Italian Open is one of the few top-tier events to have survived the leap from the pre-Open era into the modern Masters 1000 calendar. It has spent most of its life at Rome's Foro Italico, the Mussolini-era sports complex where the Campo Centrale sits beside the Stadio dei Marmi and its ring of marble statues. The event occupies the back end of the European clay swing — the last 1000-level stop before Roland-Garros, arriving on the heels of Monte Carlo and the Madrid Open.
What sets Rome apart is the dirt itself and the room it gives the ball. The Foro Italico's clay plays slower and the bounce sits higher than Madrid's altitude-juiced courts, rewarding heavy topspin, deep court positioning and the kind of point-construction patience that translates directly to the Bois de Boulogne two weeks later. The sunken bowl of the Campo Centrale and the partisan Roman crowd give it an atmosphere closer to a football terrace than a tennis stadium. In 2023 the event expanded to a 96-draw, near-two-week format, putting it in step with the other combined Masters/1000 stops.
The recent honour roll reflects clay's modern hierarchy. Daniil Medvedev — long the surface's reluctant outsider — broke through on the men's side over Holger Rune, while Iga Swiatek overpowered Aryna Sabalenka for one of her Rome titles. In 2025, home favourite Jasmine Paolini took the women's crown past Coco Gauff, the first Italian women's champion here in decades.
The 2026 edition, staged May 5–17, crowned Jannik Sinner, who beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to lift the trophy on home soil — the marquee result of an event that increasingly belongs to its host nation.