In Rovigo the oval ball is no ordinary sport. Rugby came to the city in 1935, brought by Davide Lanzoni, a medical student at the University of Padua. Since then the club has won 15 Italian championships: the first in the 1950-51 season, the latest in 2024-25, won with a comeback in the final against Viadana.
There is another, less well-known record: like Petrarca Padova, Rovigo has never been relegated from the top flight. A rare continuity that makes rugby part of the city's identity.
The heart of this passion is the municipal stadium named after Mario «Maci» Battaglini, one of the club's first players, who went on to leave his mark on Italian and French rugby. To understand Rovigo, it is worth going to a match.
