Antonio Piccolo (born 7 April 1988) is an Italian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

Born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, Piccolo started his career at Campania club

Salernitana Sport Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

. After the club went bankrupt in 2005, he was signed by

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

. Despite young age, he made his Serie B debut on 8 April 2006 (round 36). He substituted Daniele Degano in added time. That match Piacenza won

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

3–1. He played his first start on round 40 (3rd round counted from bottom) which he was replaced by Degano at second half. That match Piacenza lost to

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

3–4. He wore no.18 shirt from 2005 to 2008, no.19 in

2009–10 Serie B The 2009–10 Serie B season is the seventy-eighth edition since its establishment in 1929. Serie B is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega ...

and no.23 in

2010–11 Serie B The 2010–11 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) is the seventy-ninth season since its establishment in 1929, and the first one under the rule of the new Lega Serie B. A total of 22 teams contest the league, 15 of which retu ...

. He was loaned to

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

club

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

on 1 September 2008. On 1 July 2009, he returned to Piacenza and made a few substitute appearances. However, he was injured, trained separately and returned to the team in March. Piccolo played his first start of the

season on 16 October 2010, as one of the forwards in a 4–3–2–1 formation, partnering with central forward

Daniele Cacia Daniele Cacia (born 23 August 1983) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is a former Italy Under 19 international. Club career Piacenza Born in Catanzaro, and coming through the youth ranks at Piacenza. He made his ...

and supportive striker

Mattia Graffiedi Mattia Graffiedi (born 26 May 1980) is an Italian former footballer who played as a forward. He first played for Cesena, later moving on to more prestigious clubs such as A.C. Milan. However, most of his career has been spent at teams in Seri ...

. In that match Piacenza defeated

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

with the winning goal of Piccolo. On 31 August 2011 Piccolo was sold to

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

for €100,000 in co-ownership deal, co-currently Piacenza got half of the registration rights of Francesco Volpe for a peppercorn of €500. After the bankruptcy of Piacenza, Livorno got the full registration rights. Piccolo left for

Lanciano Lanciano (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It has 33,944 inhabitants as of 2023. The town is known for the first recorded Catholic Church, Catholic Miracle of Lanciano, Eucharis ...

in January 2013. In June 2013 Lanciano acquired Piccolo in a new co-ownership deal. On 3 October 2020 his contract with

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

was terminated by mutual consent. He successively joined Serie C's

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 ...

as a free transfer. On 9 April 2022, he was released together with all of his Catania teammates following the club's exclusion from Italian football due to its inability to overcome a number of financial issues.

References

External links

FIGC

La Gazzetta dello Sport (2006–07 season)

La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10 season)

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Piacenza Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccolo, Antonio Italian men's footballers Serie B players Serie C players US Salernitana 1919 players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Calcio Foggia 1920 players US Livorno 1915 players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players Spezia Calcio players US Cremonese players Catania FC players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Naples 1988 births Living people 21st-century Italian sportsmen