Italy competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 224 competitors, 197 men and 27 women, took part in 123 events in 19 sports.^[1]

In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Italy entered three men. Their highest placing competitor was Alfredo Massazza, at 31st place.

Men's Individual Competition:

• Alfredo Massazza - 2340 points (→ 31st place)
• Giancarlo Ferrari - 2322 points (→ 33rd place)
• Sante Spigarelli - 2300 points (→ 35th place)

Men's 800 metres

• Franco Arese
  • Heat — DNS (→ did not advance)

Men's 1500 metres

• Franco Arese
  • Heat — 3:44.0
  • Semifinals — 3:41.1 (→ did not advance)
• Gianni del Buono
  • Heat — 3:40.8
  • Semifinals — 3:42.0 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 100 m Relay

• Vincenzo Guerini, Ennio Preatoni, Luigi Benedetti, and Pietro Mennea
  • Heat — 39.29s
  • Semifinals — 39.21s
  • Final — 39.14s (→ 8th place)

Men's High Jump

• Enzo del Forno
  • Qualifying Round — 2.15m
  • Final — 2.15m (→ 10th place)
• Marco Schivo
  • Qualifying Round — 2.15m
  • Final — 2.10m (→ 17th place)

Men's Team Competition

• Preliminary Round (Group B)
  • Lost to Yugoslavia (78-85)
  • Defeated Senegal (92-56)
  • Lost to Soviet Union (66-79)
  • Defeated West Germany (68-57)
  • Defeated Poland (71-59)
  • Defeated Puerto Rico (71-54)
  • Defeated Philippines (101-81)
• Semi Finals
  • Lost to United States (38-68)
• Bronze Medal Match
  • Lost to Cuba (65-66) → Fourth place
• Team Roster
  • Ottorino Flaborea
  • Giuseppe Brumatti
  • Giorgio Giomo
  • Mauro Cerioni
  • Massimo Masini
  • Renzo Bariviera
  • Marino Zanatta
  • Dino Meneghin
  • Pierluigi Marzorati
  • Luigi Serafini
  • Ivan Bisson
  • Giulio Iellini

Men's Light Flyweight:

• Gaetano Curcetti

1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Kadir Syed Abdul of Singapore (3 round, RSC)

Men's Flyweight:

• Franco Udella

1. 1/16-Final - Defeated Filex Maina of Kenya (5 - 0)
2. 1/8-Final - Lost to Boris Zoriktuev of USSR (1 - 4)

Men's Featherweight:

• Pasqualino Morbidelli

1. 1/32-Final - Defeated Morgan Mwenya of Zambia (5 - 0)
2. 1/16-Final - Defeated Ebu Sef Tatar of Turkey (5 -0 )
3. 1/8-Final - Lost to Royal Kobayashi of Japan (1 round, KO)

Men's Lightweight:

• Giambattista Capretti

1. 1/32-Final - Defeated José Martinez of Canada (2 round, RSC)
2. 1/16-Final - Lost to László Orbán of Hungary (1 - 4)

Men's Light Welterweight:

• Ernesto Bergamasco

1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Srisook Bantow of Thailand (1 - 4)

Men's Welterweight:

• Damiano Lassandro

1. 1/32-Final - Lost to Emilio Correa of Cuba (0 - 5)

Men's Light Middleweight:

• Antonio Castellini

1. 1/16-Final - Lost to Wiesław Rudkowski of Poland (0 - 5)

Men's Light Heavyweight:

• Guglielmo Spinello

1. 1/16-Final - Defeated Samson Laizer of Tanzania (2round KO)
2. 1/8-Final - Lost to Rudi Hornig of West Germany (1 - 4)

Fifteen cyclists represented Italy in 1972.

Individual road race

• Francesco Moser — 8th place
• Walter Riccomi — 49th place
• Aldo Parecchini — did not finish (→ no ranking)
• Franco Ongarato — did not finish (→ no ranking)

Team time trial

• Osvaldo Castellan
• Pasqualino Moretti
• Francesco Moser
• Giovanni Tonoli

Sprint

• Massimo Marino
• Ezio Cardi

1000m time trial

• Ezio Cardi
  • Final — 1:07.80 (→ 9th place)

Tandem

• Dino Verzini and Giorgio Rossi → 9th place

Individual pursuit

• Luciano Borgognoni

Team pursuit

• Pietro Algeri
• Giacomo Bazzan
• Giorgio Morbiato
• Luciano Borgognoni

Men's 3m Springboard

• Giorgio Cagnotto — 591.63 points (→ Silver Medal)
• Klaus Dibiasi — 559.05 points (→ 4th place)

Men's 10m Platform

• Klaus Dibiasi — 504.12 points (→ Gold Medal)
• Giorgio Cagnotto — 475.83 points (→ Bronze Medal)

19 fencers, 14 men and 5 women, represented Italy in 1972.

Men's foil

• Nicola Granieri
• Stefano Simoncelli
• Arcangelo Pinelli

Men's team foil

• Alfredo Del Francia, Nicola Granieri, Carlo Montano, Arcangelo Pinelli, Stefano Simoncelli

Men's épée

• Nicola Granieri
• Claudio Francesconi
• Gianluigi Saccaro

Men's team épée

• Claudio Francesconi, Nicola Granieri, Gianluigi Placella, Gianluigi Saccaro, Pier Alberto Testoni

Men's sabre

• Michele Maffei
• Mario Aldo Montano
• Rolando Rigoli

Men's team sabre

• Michele Maffei, Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori, Mario Aldo Montano, Mario Tullio Montano

Women's foil

• Antonella Ragno-Lonzi
• Maria Consolata Collino
• Giulia Lorenzoni

Women's team foil

• Antonella Ragno-Lonzi, Giulia Lorenzoni, Der Reka Cipriani, Maria Consolata Collino, Giuseppina Bersani

Three male pentathletes represented Italy in 1972.

Men's Individual Competition:

• Mario Medda - 4850 points (→ 16th place)
• Giovanni Perugini - 4571 points (→ 34th place)
• Nicolo Deligia - 4492 points (→ 39th place)

Men's Team Competition:

• Medda, Perugini, and Deligia - 13913 points (→ 10th place)

Men's Coxed Pairs

• Giampaolo Tronchin, Mario Semenzato and Siro Kuhnke Meli
  • Heat — 8:02.79
  • Repechage — 8:10.46 (→ did not advance)

Eleven male shooters represented Italy in 1972. In the trap event, Angelo Scalzone won gold and Silvano Basagni won bronze.

25 m pistol

• Giovanni Liverzani
• Roberto Ferraris

50 m pistol

• Giuseppe De Chirico
• Piero Errani

50 m rifle, three positions

• Giuseppe De Chirico
• Walter Frescura

50 m rifle, prone

• Giovanni Mezzani
• Giancarlo Cecconi

Trap

• Angelo Scalzone
• Silvano Basagni

Skeet

• Romano Garagnani
• Carlo Alberto Lodi

Men's 100m Freestyle

• Roberto Pangaro
  • Heat — 54.74s (→ did not advance)

Men's 200m Freestyle

• Riccardo Targetti
  • Heat — 2:02.58 (→ did not advance)
• Arnaldo Cinquetti
  • Heat — 2:01.78 (→ did not advance)
• Roberto Pangaro
  • Heat — 2:00.97 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

• Roberto Pangaro, Paolo Barelli, Marcello Guarducci and Alberto Castagnetti
  • Heat — 3:38.81 (→ did not advance)

Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay

• Roberto Pangaro, Arnaldo Cinquetti, Lorenzo Marugo, and Riccardo Targetti
  • Heat — 8:03.98 (→ did not advance)

Men's Competition

• Vincenzo Finocchiaro, Sergio Irredento, Massimo Nistri, Edmondo Mingione, Michele di Pietro, Angelo Tozzi, Gaetano Carboni, and Mauro Calligaris. Reserve: Sandro Grassi.

Women's Competition

• Laura Podestà, Novella Calligaris, Federica Stabilini, Patrizia Miserini, Donatella Talpo, Patrizia Lanfredini, Laura Gorgerino, and Alessandra Finesso. Reserve: Antonella Valentini.

Men's Bantamweight:

• Gaetano Tosto - 325.0 kg (→ 16th place)

Men's Featherweight:

• Peppino Tanti - 372.5 kg (→ 8th place)

Men's Middleweight:

• Anselmo Silvino - 470.0 kg (→ Bronze Medal)
• Salvatore Laudani - 440.0 kg (→ 11th place)

Men's Light Heavyweight:

• Dino Turcato - 455.0 (→ 9th place)

Men's Heavyweight:

• Roberto Vezzani - 545.0 (→ 5th place)

Men's Slalom:

• Roby Zucchi - 44.0 points (→ Gold Medal)

Men's Figure Skiing:

• Max Hofer - 3850 points (→ 6th place)
• Roby Zucchi - 3560 points (→ 8th place)

Men's Jump:

• Max Hofer - 37.70 points (→ Silver Medal)
• Roby Zucchi - 35.10 points (→ 7th place)