Starting Saturday, April 5th, the Monte-Carlo Masters will take place—a tournament founded in 1897 and now in its 118th edition. A historic stop on the circuit, the red clay of Monaco has witnessed the triumphs of many greats of the sport: from the early 20th-century dominance of Suzanne Lenglen and Henry Cochet, through the multiple titles of Ilie Năstase and Björn Borg, to the 11 consecutive victories of the modern red clay king, the Mallorcan Rafael Nadal. Within this history of champions, Italian players have earned their place, collecting titles in the Principality since the 1920s.
Gianni Clerici discussed it as follows (La Repubblica, 16/04/2007):

Quoting the Grimaldis—and their current heir, himself a tennis player, Prince Albert—it seems only fair to point out that Monte Carlo is a very Italian tournament. Not only did the Genoese Count Mino Balbi di Robecco win it in 1922, but our own De Morpurgo and Gaslini triumphed in doubles in 1926, and Nicola Pietrangeli—now even a naturalized Monegasque citizen—won it three times (1961, 1967, 1968). Italian, as I said, also thanks to the crowd: half of it, some sixty thousand people, are ours. For a Piedmontese or a Ligurian, it’s much more convenient to get to the Country Club than to the Foro Italico—especially now that a smart initiative allows trains to stop just 800 meters from the stadium.

It is particularly memorable, then, his report in the pages of Il Giorno on the occasion of his dear friend Nicola Pietrangeli’s first triumph in Monaco, on April 3rd, 1961:

A not-in-form Nicola Pietrangeli—heavy and bulky, with stone-like legs and delayed shots, yet all of his talent, his great talent—has won the Monte Carlo tournament, which featured the best European amateurs.
In the final, he faced Darmon, his old friend from Tunis; […]
They take to the court, and from afar, without glasses, I can easily picture them as a little dark cricket and a wise seal. […]
Nicola, that rascal Nicola, lowers his square head that looks like a die screwed onto the block of his big body: two games as only he can play them, with incredibly heavy balls, and Darmon is riddled as if his racquet were made of cards: 6–4. […]
The two head off for a long break, during which the crowd spends its time watching Grace of Monaco—her hair golden and perfectly styled, her ivory face impeccable: the many ceremonies have made her resemble the official photos of herself.

In Monte Carlo, on the men’s side, Italian victories include Giovanni Palmieri’s singles title in 1935 and doubles wins by the pairs Gianni Cucelli – Marcello Del Bello (1954) and Paolo Bertolucci – Adriano Panatta (1980). As for the women’s circuit—which has not returned to Monaco since 1982—memorable singles wins came from Annalisa Bossi Bellani (1949 and 1957) and Silvana Lazzarino (1954). Lea Pericoli also boasts five doubles titles: in 1964, 1965, and 1966 alongside Lazzarino; and in 1972 and 1975 with Lucia Bassi.

In modern times, the Italian flag returned to wave high with Fabio Fognini’s triumph at the 2019 edition of the tournament: the Sanremo-born clay court specialist lifted the trophy by defeating Serbia’s Dušan Lajović in the final, thus completing a legendary run that saw him overcome then-world No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the third round and No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. These were Clerici’s words on the occasion (La Repubblica, 23/04/2019):

Fognini thus managed to win — despite being injured — a tournament in which he had defeated the excellent aforementioned players, and finally the weakest of his opponents, Dušan Lajović. And he stated that, after his fellow countryman Nicola Pietrangeli, three-time winner in Monte Carlo in ’61, ’67, and ’68, what truly mattered was not the victory over poor Lajović, but the Prince’s Cup.