Davide Di Gennaro (born 16 June 1988) is an Italian professional

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. ...

for

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club San Marzano.

Club career

Early career

Di Gennaro is a product of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

's youth system, which he joined from amateur side Cimiano in 1995. There he went on to become the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of their under-20 squad. On 19 May 2007, he made his first team debut, aged 18, in a

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

game against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

. For the 2007–08 season the young midfielder was loaned out to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

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 ...

, where he scored two goal in 22 appearances, playing an important part in the club's promotion to Serie A.

Serie A debut

In August 2008, Di Gennaro was transferred to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in a co-ownership deal, in compensation for

Marco Borriello Marco Borriello (; born 18 June 1982) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Throughout his career, Borriello played for several Italian clubs, includin ...

, who was brought back to Milan. Nevertheless, after only making one league appearance, he was loaned out to Reggina, just before the transfers deadline. Oddly enough, he scored his only goal of the season – his first in Serie A – in the game against Milan at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

, on 7 February 2009. The ''Rossoneri'' later equalised and the match finished 1–1. On 27 June 2009, Milan reclaimed Di Gennaro from the co-ownership with Genoa via a blind auction, after the two teams had failed to reach an agreement, for €1.25 million. Di Gennaro signed a new 3-year deal. However, during a pre-season friendly he suffered a broken

metatarsal The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

, which forced him out for the first months of the season. After recovering from the injury, he struggled to return to form, playing only two

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

games. To get some more playing time, on 29 January 2010 he was loaned 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 the remainder of the season.

Padova

For the 2010–11 season, Di Gennaro has been sent on loan to

club

Calcio Padova Calcio Padova, commonly referred to as Padova, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Padua, Veneto. Founded in 1910, Padova currently play in , having last been in Serie A in 1996. The team's official colours are white and red. ...

. Like in the previous year, he suffered an injury during the pre-season, which would keep him out for one month. Following his recover, Di Gennaro made his official debut for the club in an away league game against

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, which Padova lost 1–0, on 5 September 2010. Three weeks later, on 25 September, he also scored his first goal for the team, in a 2–0 win against Albinoleffe at home. He went on to score 5 goals in 17 league appearances throughout the season. ca. January 2011 Di Gennaro also added one more year to his Milan contract, to last until 30 June 2013.

Modena

Di Gennaro spent the 2011–12 season on another loan spell to

club

, where he scored 10 goals in 32 league appearances.

Spezia

On 14 July 2012, Di Gennaro signed a permanent deal to join newly promoted

team

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

for €500,000.Spezia Calcio S.r.l. S.S.P. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013 During the season, he made 34 appearances in Seria B, scoring 9 goals (5 of which were penalties). He also made one appearance in Coppa Italia, scoring a goal in a 1–2 loss against Cagliari.

Palermo

On 1 July 2013, he moved to

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

for free, which Spezia write-down his residual contract value fully, Di Gennaro signed a three-year contract for Palermo.

Vicenza

On 8 September 2014, di Gennaro was signed by

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, on loan.

Cagliari

After a great season with the Vicenza, in the summer of 2015 he moved to

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, demoted to Serie B.

Lazio

On 21 July 2017, Di Gennaro was signed by

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

on a three-year contract.

Salernitana

On 17 August 2018, Di Gennaro joined

Salernitana 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 ...

on a season-long loan from Lazio.

Juve Stabia

On 24 July 2019, he joined

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

on loan.

Later years

On 31 January 2021, he moved to

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. On 2 September 2021, he signed with

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

on a one-year contract with an option to renew. On 31 January 2022, his contract was terminated by mutual consent. On 8 February 2022, Di Gennaro signed with

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

until the end of the season. On 13 October 2022, after having been released by Taranto, Di Gennaro joined

club Portici.

International career

Di Gennaro has played at various level of youth international football, collecting a total of 15 appearances, for the Italy U-16 to U-20 sides. He made his debut with Italy U-21 on 18 November 2008, in a friendly against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Career statistics

Club

''As of 20 May 2018'' ;Notes ¹European competitions include the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

²Other tournaments include nothing to date

Honours

A.C. Milan *

: 2006–07 Lazio *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

Profile
at Assocalciatori.it
International caps
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Gennaro, Davide 1988 births Living people Footballers from Milan Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players AC Milan players Bologna FC 1909 players Genoa CFC players AS Reggina 1914 players US Livorno 1915 players Calcio Padova players Modena FC 2018 players Spezia Calcio players Palermo FC players LR Vicenza players Cagliari Calcio players SS Lazio players US Salernitana 1919 players SS Juve Stabia players Cesena FC players SSC Bari players Taranto FC 1927 players 21st-century Italian sportsmen