Italy may well be the land that once worshipped catenaccio, but that isn’t to say the country hasn’t been blessed with an array of sharpshooters.

The art of defending isn’t appreciated anywhere in the world as it once was in Serie A, and the sturdiness of Italian defences meant there were seasons where just 15 goals were enough to end the season as the most prolific performer in the division.

While the Italians loved their trequartisti, their infatuation with preventing goals meant any celebration of proficient goalscoring was reluctant. These folk – these goalscorers that is – were long the antitheses to calcio’s ultimate ideal.

Here is the full history of Serie A’s Capocannoniere, including all of the previous winners and how some modern players rank overall.

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Serie A as we know it today was established in 1929 when southern Italian teams were added to the national division. The league’s leading scorer at the end of the season has been crowned Capocannoniere ever since.

Although, there was a brief hiatus between 1943 and 1945 due to Italy’s involvement in World War II.

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Serie A has long been home to the world’s premier talent and those regarded among the greatest of all-time – including Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dario Hübner – have been named Capocannoniere since the competition’s establishment.

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The Swedish striker who made millions of Milanisti dream – We remember Gunnar Nordahl on what would have been his 100th birthday 💫

L’attaccante svedese che ha fatto sognare milioni di milanisti: ricordiamo Nordahl in quello che sarebbe stato il suo centesimo compleanno 💫 pic.twitter.com/wWGLHDPkg3

— AC Milan (@acmilan) October 19, 2021

Four-time winner Ciro Immobile has given it a good crack, but Gunnar Nordahl’s record five Capocannoniere crowns have stood the test of time.

The Swedish hitman is Milan’s all-time record goalscorer and ended the season as Serie A’s leading scorer in five out of six years between 1950 and 1955, notching 30+ goals during his first two Capocannoniere triumphs.

Unless Immobile enjoys a resurgence, it looks unlikely that anybody will usurp Nordahl as pluricapocannoniere anytime soon.

Several players have won the award three times, but each of them hung up their boots decades ago. Michel Platini, Giuseppe Signori, Giuseppe Meazza, Aldo Boffi, Gigi Riva, Paolo Pulici and Roberto Pruzzo are all three-time winners.

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1938 World Cup winner Silvio Piola is the league’s record scorer. The Italian striker scored 274 Serie A goals in 537 appearances.

The vast majority of his goals came while playing for Lazio (143), but he also enjoyed stints at Juventus (10), Novara (70) and Pro Vercelli (53).

2006/07 Capocannoniere Francesco Totti came somewhat close to matching Piola’s imperious haul as he ended up with 250 Serie A goals, all with AS Roma, before retiring. The aforementioned Nordahl is third on the all-time charts with 225 strikes, while Immobile currently heads the list among those still playing.

The Lazio skipper has 194 Serie A goals, and he’s got Roberto Baggio (205) and Antonio Di Natale (209) in his sights.

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Torino’s Gino Rossetti scored 36 times the season before Serie A’s establishment, and this figure has been matched twice – both in the 21st century.

Nordahl scored 35 goals during his first Capocannoniere campaign in 1949/50 and, for 66 years, this tally was Serie A’s single-season record. However, big Gonzalo Higuain then bagged 36 goals for Napoli during the 2015/16 campaign to set a new record.

Higuain’s monster haul was matched by Immobile during the Covid-hit 2019/20 season, with the Italian becoming the third Capocannoniere winner to also win the European Golden Shoe after Luca Toni in 2005/06 and Totti in 2006/07.

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