The team's first match was held in Milan on 15 May 1910; Italy defeated France by a score of 6-2. Some turmoil kept the players of Pro Vercelli, the best team of the league, out of the game. The team did not wear the blue shirts, but white ones, with shorts from the club of each player. At the end of the match, the players received as a prize some cigarette packets thrown by the 4,000 spectators.
The first success in an official tournament came with the Bronze Medal in 1928 Summer Olympics, held in Amsterdam. After losing the semi-final against Uruguay, a victory against Egypt secured third place in the competition.
After declining to participate in the first World Cup (1930, in Uruguay), the Italian national team won two consecutive editions of the tournament in 1934 and 1938.
In the 1934 "FIFA World Cup - Italy", Azzurri defeated Czechoslovakia 2–1 in Rome, with goals by Raimundo Orsi and Angelo Schiavio.
Italy won the Gold medal in the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin, thanks to a victory in the final match against Austria.
Italy's predominance on international football in the 1930s was confirmed by the victory in 1938 World Cup. The Italian team beat Hungary 4–2 in Paris, with two goals by Silvio Piola (the all-time top scorer in Italian football) and two by Gino Colaussi.
After World War II, the Italian national team did not perform at its pre-war levels.
In 1949, in the Superga air disaster, all of the players of Torino F.C., the winner of the previous four Serie A titles, died. The national football team lost ten out of eleven players of the initial line-up, and in the following year, did not advance further than the first round in the 1950 World Cup
Italy failed to go farther than the first round of the World Cup Finals in 1954, 1962 and 1966 editions, and did not even qualify for the 1958 World Cup.
The match that has more significance among those played in this period, is the 0–1 defeat against North Korea during the final stage of the 1966 World Cup: the Azzurri were defeated by the semi-professional North Koreans and bitterly condemned upon their return home, while North Korean scorer Pak Do Ik was celebrated as the David who killed Goliath.
In 1968, the Azzurri won their first major competition since the 1938 World Cup, defeating Yugoslavia in Rome for the European Championship title. The match holds the distinction of being the only major football tournament final to go to a replay. After extra time it ended in a 1-1 draw, and in the days before penalty shootouts, the rules required the match to be re-played a few days later. Italy won the replay 2-0 (with goals from Riva and Anastasi) to lift the trophy.
Two years later, the team reached the final of the 1970 World Cup, held in Mexico, where they were defeated by Brazil 4-1. Italy's semi-final match, won 4-3 in extra time against West Germany, has been hailed as the Game of the Century and is the most noted game in Italian football history.
After a fourth place finish in 1978, Italy were crowned World Champions for a third time in 1982, defeating West Germany 3-1 in the final. Paolo Rossi, with six goals in the final three matches, took home the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer.
Since their 1982 triumph, the Azzurri have figured prominently on the world stage, but have yet to win another tournament. After failing to qualify for the 1984 European Championship, they were knocked out in the second round of the 1986 World Cup by France. 1988 saw them reach the semi-finals of the European Championship, where they were defeated 2-0 by USSR.
Italy hosted the World Cup for the second time in 1990. Despite being favourites to win and not conceding a goal during their first five matches of the tournament, they were eliminated in the semi-final by Argentina, losing 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw after extra time. They went on to defeat England 2–1 in the third place play-off. The team failed to qualify for the 1992 European Championship.
In the 1994 World Cup, Italy started slowly but reached the final against Brazil. After a 0–0 draw at the end of extra time, they lost the subsequent penalty shootout 3-2. Roberto Baggio, who had five goals in the tournament prior to the final, missed the final penalty kick of the match, shooting over the crossbar.
After failing to progress beyond the group stage during the finals of Euro 96, the Italian side found themselves in another critical shootout, for the third World Cup in a row, during the 1998 edition, holding France to a 0-0 draw after extra time in the quarter-finals, but losing 4-3 in the shootout.
The Italian participation in the 2000 European Championship was followed with some skepticism, but the Azzurri won an incredible semi-final against host nation the Netherlands — Italian goalkeeper Francesco Toldo saved one penalty during the match and two during the shootout, while the Dutch players missed one penalty during the match and one during the shootout – a success rate of one penalty scored in six attempts. Italy finished the tournament as runners-up, losing the final 2–1 against France (to a golden goal in extra time), after conceding les Bleus' equalizing goal just 30 seconds before the end of normal time.
In the 2002 World Cup, Italy was eliminated by co-host country South Korea in the round of sixteen. The match was marked by controversy, as referee Byron Moreno gave Francesco Totti a second yellow card in extra time for an alleged dive, and disallowed an Italian goal. Replays seemed to indicate both that the card was unfounded and the goal was legal, but the decisions stood and South Korea won 2-1, again with a golden goal in extra time.
A three-way tie in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship left Italy as the "odd man out", and they failed to qualify for the quarter-finals, finishing behind Denmark and Sweden on the basis of number of goals scored in matches among the tied teams.
Italy won their opening game of 2006 World Cup against Ghana. The final score was 2-0, with goals coming from Andrea Pirlo (40') and Vincenzo Iaquinta (83').The second match was a 1-1 draw with USA, with the opening goal by Alberto Gilardino equalised by a Cristian Zaccardo own goal. Three players — Daniele De Rossi of Italy; Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope of USA — were sent off. Nearly all of the second half was played with only nineteen players on the field, and the three red cards tied a World Cup finals record.
Italy finished group play with a 2-0 win against the Czech Republic on Thursday, June 22, 2006. Goals were scored by Marco Materazzi (26') and Filippo Inzaghi (87').
On Monday, June 26, Italy won against Australia 1-0, with the goal comes from Francesco Totti (95'). This win allowed the Italians to the Quater Finals.
On June 30, Italy won against Ukrain 3-0. Goals were scored by Gianluca Zambrotta (6') and Luca Toni (59' and 69'). This win allowed the Italians to the Semi Finals.
The next match of the Italian Team is on July 4 against Germany.