Renato Villalta

Renato Villalta was a former Italian basketball player and sports manager. Standing 203 cm tall, he was a forward and played 16 seasons in the top division of the Italian championship, and also played for the Italian national team.

Introduced to basketball by Augusto Giomo, Villalta grew up playing in the youth teams of Basket Mestre, a team with which he made his début at the age of 16 in the 2nd division in 1971/72 (scoring 187 points). Two seasons later, he scored 536 points as he achieved promotion to the Top League.

Villalta made his début in the Top League in 1974, wearing the jersey of Duco Mestre where he remained until 1976, when he then played 13 consecutive seasons with Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna until 1988/89, winning three championships and two Italian Cups. A club legend, Villalta scored a record 7,306 points for them before winding down his career with two seasons at Benetton Treviso.

With the national team Villalta played 207 games, scoring 2,265 points. He participated in the 1980 Moskva (Moscow) Olympics, winning the silver medal, and in 1983 he won the gold medal at the European Championships at Limoges, France, and the silver medal at the Mediterranean Games. After the fifth place at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he won a bronze medal at the 1985 Europeans in Germany, behind the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.

After retiring from active competition in 1991, and married with two children, Villalta managed businesses, stores, and collaborated with an insurance company. He remained fit and ran in six New York Marathons.