Andrea Lo Cicero Vaina (; born

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, 7 May 1976) is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer, who retired from playing in 2013. Born in

, Sicily, Lo Cicero began his professional career in the town of his birth with

Amatori Catania Amatori Catania Rugby is an Italian rugby union club based in Catania. They are the only professional rugby union team in Sicily. The club was founded in 1963, and play at the Stadio Santa Maria Goretti. Amatori Catania have thus far not won the ...

. Later he moved to Bologna and then to

Rugby Rovigo Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Top10 (rugby union), Serie A Élite. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto. Overview The club was founded in 1935 by medical ...

, winning his first Italian Championship in 2000 with Rugby Roma. Subsequently, he played for a season in the French team

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

. He then played for

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

and he completed his career playing for

Racing Métro 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity domed stadium Paris La Défense Arena, l ...

in France's

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. Lo Cicero was included in Italy's squad for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

but did not see any action and had to wait until the following year to make his international debut. It came against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 2000 when he had the difficult task of filling the gap left by the Azzurri prop and captain

Massimo Cuttitta Massimo Cuttitta (; 2 September 1966 – 11 April 2021) was an Italian professional rugby union player and coach. He used to play as a prop. He was the twin brother of Marcello Cuttitta. Early life Cuttitta was born at Latina. His family mov ...

. He was named in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's dream XV at the

2004 Six Nations Championship The 2004 Six Nations Championship was the fifth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy national rugby union team, Italy. Overall, this was the 110th series of the inter ...

and was part of the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

squad to take on

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

later that year. Lo Cicero was the only European player to receive a call, and he capped the feat by scoring a try. In 2005 he again represented the Barbarians for their matches against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and England. In the

2007 Six Nations Championship The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen ma ...

, he celebrated his 50th appearance in the Six Nations with a thumping 37–17 victory over

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

, Italy's first away victory in the tournament. Lo Cicero won his 100th cap for Italy against Scotland in the 2013 Six Nations tournament and his 101st in the match against Wales, equalling

Alessandro Troncon Alessandro Troncon (born 6 September 1973 in Treviso) is a former Italian rugby union player. Troncon is the 6th most capped player in Italian rugby union history, and the first Italian to gain 100 caps. The veteran scrum-half made his Italy deb ...

's record as Italy's most-capped player, breaking that record against England. Lo Cicero announced he was retiring from the Italian national team after their final game of the 2013 Six Nations against Ireland, and came on to massive cheers from Italian fans. Italy went on to win the game 22–15, thus recording their first Six Nations victory over Ireland. He was also selected for the 2013 Barbarians squad to play in Hong Kong against the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

and

References

External links

RBS 6 Nations profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lo Cicero, Andrea 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Catania Italian rugby union players Rugby union props Racing 92 players Stade Toulousain players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby Roma Olimpic players Italy international rugby union players Participants in Italian reality television series 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Italian expatriate rugby union players in France Rugby Rovigo Delta players L'Aquila Rugby players Amatori Catania players