The 1960 water polo tournament was held at the Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, which had been built in 1959 specifically for the Rome Olympics. As at all previous Olympics, this was an outdoor facility, but beginning in 1964 at Tokyo, it would become more standard for Olympic swimming to be contested indoors, although outdoor pools would again be used in Los Angeles (1984), Barcelona (1992), and Athens (2004). Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto still exists but has since been enclosed and is now an indoor facility. In 1960 it hosted swimming, diving, water polo, and the swimming section of the modern pentathlon.
The 1960 water polo format consisted of four preliminary groups with two teams from each group advancing to two semi-final groups. From there the top two in each semi-final group moved into the medal round, with the other four teams contesting a round-robin consolation pool for places 5-8. In the semi-finals pools, match scores from the preliminary rounds were carried over, and in the final pool, match scores from the semi-final pools were carried over.
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