Maurizia Cacciatori

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexFemale
Full nameMaurizia•Cacciatori (-Orsini)
Used nameMaurizia•Cacciatori
Born6 April 1973 in Carrara, Massa-Carrara (ITA)
Measurements178 cm / 64 kg
AffiliationsVolley Bergamo, Bergamo (ITA)
NOC Italy

Biography

Maurizia Cacciatori was on the Italian volleyball squad at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the first Italian women’s team to compete at the Olympics. In the 1990s she was the most well-known Italian woman volleyball player, thanks to her activities in publicizing the sport and as a model.

A very talented setter, Cacciatori was a precocious marvel: at only 15years-old she débuted in the Second League with Carrarese, the team of her native city. At the age of 16 she moved to Sirio Perugia, the team with whom she remained until 1993 and won the 1992 Italian Cup. A year later she joined Amazzoni Agrigento for two seasons without victories. In 1995 she signed up with Volley Bergamo, a team for whom she became captain and a symbol until 2003, with a break in the 1998-99 season with Napoli, when she won the CEV Cup. With Bergamo she dominated the second half of the 1990s with four Italian titles (1996-98, 2002), three Italian Cups (1996-98), three SuperCups (1996-97, 1999) and two European Cups (1997, 2000).

In the 2003-04 season Cacciatori moved to Spain and joined Club Voleibal Tenerife, with whom she won a national title in 2004 and, in the same year, the European Cup, defeating the Italian club of Perugia in the final. She then returned to Italy, where she played a season with Start Alzano, and then finished her active career in Spain with Icaro Alarò.

Cacciatori earned 228 caps with the national team, making her début on 27 December 1991 in a losing friendly against Russia at Apeldoorn (The Netherlands). She had few victories with the Azzurra shirt: gold at the 2001 Mediterranean Games (Italy-Turkey 3-0 in the final), second place at the 2001 Europeans and bronze at the 1999 Europeans. At the 1998 FIVB World Championships held in Japan (where Italy was coached by Angiolino Frigoni and finished fifth), Cacciatori was named best setter of the tournament.

Cacciatori contributed to the growth of her sport in a decisive way such that, in Berlin 2002, they won the first World Title in the history of the women’s Italian volleyball. Cacciatori, however, did not participate in this victory because of conflict with coach Marco Bonitta who, after removing her from the rank of captain in favor of Manuela Leggeri, chose the young Rachele Sangiuliano as reserve for Eleonora Lo Bianco. After finishing her active career, Cacciatori again moved to Spain, where she was team manager of the Mallorca’s club.

In 2006 Cacciatori was a contestant in the reality show L’Isola dei famosi, the Italian version of Celebrity Survivor, and since 2007 has been a sport commentator for Sky Sport. In the 2010s, with her partner Francesco Orsini (a former basketball player), she had two children, Carlos Maria and Ines. In 2018 she wrote her autobiography entitled Senza rete.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
2000 Summer Olympics Volleyball (Volleyball) ITA Maurizia Cacciatori
Volleyball, Women (Olympic) Italy =9

Special Notes