Founded in 1925 as the Tennis Section of the Virtus Physical Education Society (SEF Virtus), the club Virtus Tennis quickly established itself both in the city and on the national tennis scene. Over the decades, it has hosted high-profile tournaments (including the Italian Open, the Brian Cup, and the Davis Cup), seeing major names in international tennis such as Nicola Pietrangeli, Adriano Panatta, Corrado Barazzutti, Fausto Gardini, Sergio Tacchini, Paolo Canè, Tathiana Garbin, Stefano Galvani, Simone Bolelli, Flavio Cobolli, and Lorenzo Musetti.
At the same time, thanks to Virtus Tennis’s long-standing commitment to developing and coaching young tennis talents, champions such as Vanni Canepele, Orlando Sirola, Beppe Merlo, Nicla Migliori, Maria Teresa Riedl, Ferruccio Bonetti, Paolo Bertolucci, Gianluca Rinaldini, Marco Consolini, Stefania Cicognani, Omar Camporese, and Raffaella Reggi. As a club, Virtus Tennis has achieved prestigious victories in major tournaments such as the Brian Cup, the Bonacossa Cup, and the Bossi Cup.
In 2025, Virtus Tennis marked a year of history, tradition, and a look toward the future, with numerous activities dedicated to celebrating the club’s centennial that involved members, the city, and the leading tennis institutions. In addition to the publication of a valuable book which traces its figures, stories, anecdotes, successes, and impact on the city and international tennis, the club had the great opportunity to organize competitions of significant national and international importance.
In September, the club hosted the Italian Under-15 Men’s Tennis Championships, bringing the best young Italian athletes of the future to its courts. The event received significant media coverage and once again confirmed the organizational skills of the Virtus staff in tournaments of this caliber.
In November, however, the International Blind Tennis Association (IBTA), in collaboration with Sport Education, awarded the Bologna club the honor of hosting the International Men’s and Women’s Blind Tennis “Open” Tournament. Virtus Tennis, which has always been at the forefront of promoting tennis for the blind and visually impaired at both the national and international levels, welcomed the assignment with great enthusiasm and pride.
Players from three continents, numerous countries, and many top-ranked European and world-class athletes took to the court. The event, supported by the Italian Paralympic Sports Federation for the Visually Impaired and Blind (FISPIC) and the Emilia-Romagna Regional Committee of the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP), enjoyed the patronage of the City of Bologna and the support of Banca di Bologna as the main partner.
