The Italian tennis championship was first held in 1930 in
Milan at the Tennis Club and was initiated by
Count Alberto Bonacossa. The singles events at the tournament were won by
Bill Tilden and
Lilí Álvarez. The championships were held in Milan until 1934. The next year, 1935, the event moved to the
Foro Italico in Rome. No edition was held between 1936 and 1949. The competition resumed in 1950. In 1961, on the occasion of the 100th
Anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the tournament was held in
Turin at the Sporting Club. It has had various naming incarnations through the years including: the
Italian International Championships, the
Rome Masters, and the '''Internazionali BNL d'Italia''' for
sponsorship reasons. The Italian Open became "
open" to professional players in 1969. Between 1972 and 1989 it was a premier tournament of the
Grand Prix Tennis Tour and was part of the
Grand Prix Super Series top tier events. In 1990 it became an ATP Championship Series Single Week tournament, which included the nine most prestigious tournaments of the preceding
Grand Prix tennis circuit. It has remained part of this category of events until today, that has changed names several times since, to be now known as the
ATP 1000 events. In June 2022, the ATP announced some changes to the ATP calendar for the coming year. The ATP 1000 event in Rome along with those in Shanghai and in Madrid would now be held over two weeks starting in 2023, thus becoming 12 day events just like the ATP 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami. In 2025,
Italian Tennis and Padel Federation bid $550 million to acquire the Madrid Open, aiming to elevate the Italian Open to Grand Slam status. In 1979 the women's event was held two weeks before the men's event. The women's event was played in
Perugia from 1980 though 1984 and in
Taranto in 1985. No women's event was held in 1986 and it moved back to Rome again in 1987 where it has remained. The tournament is held at the Foro Italico tennis center, which is an extensive area with a total of 21 clay surface tennis courts, nine of which are used for the Italian Open tournament and the rest for training purposes. There are currently four stadium courts: the main one,
Stadio Centrale, was rebuilt for the 2010 tournament and has a capacity of 10,400 spectators. The other grounds are the
Stadio Pietrangeli (formerly
Pallacorda, 3,500 seats), the
Grand Stand Arena and the
Supertennis Arena. ==Prize money==