Former Italy captain Luca Bigi to leave Zebre Parma

Zebre Parma have confirmed that veteran hooker and former Italy captain Luca Bigi will leave the club at the end of the season.

The 6ft, 108kg forward’s departure will bring to an end a six-year stint with the Italian URC franchise.

His next club, if any, has yet to be confirmed.

Bigi’s final appearance is set to come this Saturday when Zebre host Connacht at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in the last round of the United Rugby Championship regular season.

The 34-year-old has made 72 appearances for Zebre since joining the club in 2018, scoring eight tries. Bigi was named captain of the Italian national team for the 2020 Six Nations, succeeding the great Sergio Parisse.

“Luca Bigi is and will be in the history of Zebre,” said Zebre CEO Fabrizio Gaetaniello. “Beyond his technical skills, the dedication and work ethic of a player like him will be a heritage that will be handed down in the cultural heritage of our franchise.

“Today we say goodbye to a champion, an Azzurri captain and a man who has contributed significantly to writing pages of history. We wish him the best personal and professional successes, certain that his great human calibre will immediately emerge in other contexts as well.”

Bigi began his career with Viadana and Petrarca Padova, before catching the attention of Benetton, who brought him into the Pro12 in 2015.

After three seasons in Treviso he moved to Zebre ahead of the 2018–19 campaign.

He first represented Italy at senior level in 2017, having previously featured for Emerging Italy at the 2015 World Rugby Tbilisi Cup. Bigi went on to earn 49 test caps and featured in both the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups, and captaining the Azzurri through the 2020 and 2021 Six Nations campaigns. He scored a solitary at Test level, which came against Scotland in the 2021 Six Nations.