Alessio Dionisi (born 1 April 1980) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Serie B club Palermo.
A centre back with free kick abilities, Dionisi spent most of his career at Serie C2 and Serie D levels, with his highlight being at Tritium, a club he captained and with whom he won promotion to Lega Pro Prima Divisione and also played in the Italian third tier for a season.
Dionisi retired from active playing football in 2014, immediately being named head coach of Serie D club Olginatese, which was his final club as a player. He then managed again at the Serie D level with Borgosesia from 2015 to 2017, and Fiorenzuola in the 2017–18 season.
He was then named head coach of Serie D club Imolese in 2018, guiding the club to second place in the league. After the club was admitted to Serie C to fill a vacancy, he was confirmed at Imolese and successfully guided the small club from Emilia-Romagna to a historic third place in the league (the best result in the club's history) and a place in the promotion playoffs, where his club was defeated by Piacenza in the semi-finals.
His impressive results with Imolese won him the attention of Venezia, who appointed him head coach on 3 July 2019.[1] With Venezia readmitted to Serie B in place of Palermo,[2] he guided the Venetians to keep their place in the Italian second division.
On 19 August 2020, he was announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Empoli.[3] On his first season in charge, he led Empoli to become 2020–21 Serie B champions and ensure themselves promotion to Serie A.[4]
His impressive results at Empoli led to Serie A club Sassuolo offering him the vacant role of head coach after Roberto De Zerbi's departure; after rescinding his contract with Empoli on 15 June 2021,[5] Dionisi signed a two-year deal with Sassuolo the following day, effective from 1 July 2021.[6]
After guiding Sassuolo to two consecutive mid-table placements in the Serie A, Dionisi was sacked on 25 February 2024 following a string of negative results that left the Neroverdi struggling in the bottom positions of the league.[7]
On 7 June 2024, Dionisi was unveiled as the new head coach of Serie B promotion hopefuls Palermo.[8]
Empoli