Mario Mattioli

Mario Mattioli was an Italian volleyball star who competed at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. His first team was Robur Ravenna in 1964-65, his hometown club. He then joined Vigili del Fuoco Ruini of Firenze, and won three Italian titles with them in 1968, 1971, and 1973. He was called to the National team and contributed to Italy’s first important international victory, at the 1970 Universiade in Torino. In this team, alongside Mattioli, were other three Montréal Olympians – Andrea Nannini, Andrea Nencini, and Erasmo Salemme.

Mattiolo later played for an emerging team, with the Ariccia Volley Club in Firenze, where he was a player-coach and won two more Italian titles, in 1975 and 1977. In this period, he was always with the National team, earning 233 caps, which qualified him for the 1976 Olympics, and he helped Italy win a silver at the 1975 Mediterranean Games.

Mattiolo retired in 1986, after playing from 1979-86 with various clubs: Loreto, Trasimeno Volley, CUS Firenze, VolleyBall Arezzo, and finally Porto Ravenna. He was coach of Prato Volley from 1986-93 (also training his son Francesco) and was a professor of physical education in Firenze where he died of a cancer in May 2003 at only 58-years-old.