Manuel Piazza

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Piazza began learning to skate in 2006.^[2] He placed sixth in junior men's singles at the Italian Championships in December 2016 and again in December 2017.

In 2018, he teamed up with Alyssa Montan to compete in junior pairs. Making their international debut, Montan/Piazza won silver at the Inge Solar Memorial – Alpen Trophy in November 2018. The following month, they took silver in the junior event at the Italian Championships.

In their second and final season together, Montan/Piazza won the Italian national junior title and placed 16th at the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. The two were coached by Ondřej Hotárek, Luca Demattè, and Franca Bianconi in Bergamo, Italy.^[3]

In the 2021–22 season, Piazza began competing in the senior ranks with Anna Valesi. Making their international debut, Valesi/Piazza took bronze at the Tayside Trophy in November 2021. The following month, they placed fourth at the Italian Championships.^[4]

In January 2022, Valesi/Piazza were awarded silver medals at two events – the Icelab International Cup and Bavarian Open.^[4]

In September 2022, Valesi/Piazza won bronze at the Lombardia Trophy and placed seventh at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy.^[4] In October, they were invited to their first Grand Prix event, the 2022 Skate America, where they finished fifth.^[5] They were seventh at the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo.^[4]

Beginning the international season at the John Nicks Pairs Challenge, where they won the silver.^[4] They continued to the 2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Valesi/Piazza finished ninth. They next competed at the 2023 Diamond Spin, where they won the bronze.^[4]

On the Grand Prix, they came sixth at their lone assignment, the 2023 Grand Prix de France.^[6] They were subsequently invited to the 2023 Cup of China, following the withdrawal of Americans Chan/Howe.^[7][8] They were sixth at that event as well.^[9]

Valesi / Piazza continued to the 2024 Italian Figure Skating Championships, where they won the bronze medal.^[4] They were assigned to the 2024 Bavarian Open, but withdrew prior to the competition. It June, it was confirmed that the pair had split.^[10]

In August, it was announced that Piazza had teamed up with Júlía Sylvía Gunnarsdóttir to compete for Iceland, the first ever pair to compete internationally for Iceland.^[11] They split their training between Reykjavík, Iceland with coach Benjamin Naggiar and Bergamo, Italy with coaches, Ondřej Hotárek and Rosanna Murante.^[12]

Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza made their international debut in November 2024 at the 2024 NRW Trophy. They placed third in both the short program and the free skate to claim the bronze medal behind new Swiss team Oxana Vouillamoz / Tom Bouvart and Swedish sibling pair Greta Crafoord / John Crafoord. At their second international event, the 2024 CS Warsaw Cup, Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza placed twelfth.^[13]

Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza competed at the 2025 Icelandic Championships at the end of November unchallenged, winning their first national pairs title by default. Having earned their ISU technical minimum scores at the NRW Trophy, Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza were assigned to compete at the 2025 European Championships in Estonia in January. At Europeans, Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza scored a personal best of 48.58, placing eighteenth in the segment. They did not advance to the free skate portion of the competition.^[13]

Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza opened their season with a fourth-place finish at the 2025 Lombardia Trophy. One week later, they placed eighth at the ISU Skate to Milano.^[13]

In October, Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza competed at the 2025 Diamond Spin and the 2025 Swiss Open, winning gold and placing fifth, respectively. The following month, the pair won the bronze medal at the 2025 Cup of Innsbruck and the gold medal at the 2026 Icelandic Championships. In January, Gunnarsdóttir/Piazza placed eleventh at the 2026 European Championships, scoring personal bests in all three competition segments.^[13]

Season	Short program	Free skating
2025–2026 [14]	Imagine by John Lennon performed by Audiomachine choreo. by Benjamin Naggiar	West Side Story Maria Tonight by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim choreo. by Benjamin Naggiar
2024–2025 [1]	Pray (from Game of Thrones) by Matt Bellamy choreo. by Benjamin Naggiar

Season	Short program	Free skating
2023–24 [15]	The Loneliest by Måneskin choreo. by Luca Lanotte	Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol performed by Sleeping at Last, Tommee Profitt, & Fleurie choreo. by Anna Cappellini, Luca Lanotte
2022–23 [2]	La La Land by Justin Hurwitz choreo. by Anna Cappellini, Luca Lanotte

Season	Short program	Free skating
2019–20 [16]	Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran	Here We Go Again The Winner Takes It All Dancing Queen by ABBA

Competition placements at senior level ^[13][17]

Season	2024–25	2025–26
European Championships	18th	11th
Icelandic Championships	1st	1st
CS Warsaw Cup	12th
Cup of Innsbruck		3rd
Diamond Spin		1st
Lombardia Trophy		4th
NRW Trophy	3rd
Road to 26 Trophy	7th
Skate to Milano		8th

Competition placements at senior level ^[18]

Season	2021–22	2022–23	2023–24
Italian Championships	4th		3rd
GP Cup of China			6th
GP Finland		7th
GP France			6th
GP Skate America		5th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy		7th	9th
CS Warsaw Cup		5th
Bavarian Open	2nd
Challenge Cup		8th
Diamond Spin			3rd
IceLab Cup	2nd
John Nicks Pairs			2nd
Lombardia Trophy		3rd
Tayside Trophy	3rd	3rd

Competition placements at junior level ^[19]

Season	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21
World Junior Championships		16th
Italian Championships	2nd	1st	1st
Alpen Trophy	2nd
Bavarian Open	8th	3rd
Egna Spring Trophy	1st

Competition placements at junior level ^[20]

Season	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18
Italian Championships		6th	6th
Cup of Tyrol	3rd	8th
Egna Spring Trophy	7th	6th
Merano Cup		WD