Stefano Della Villa

Stefano Della Villa (born 1960 in Bologna) is an Italian sports medicine physician, physiatrist, and entrepreneur. He is the president and founder of the Isokinetic Medical Group, an international network of sports rehabilitation clinics headquartered in Bologna, Italy, and serves within its Educational and Research Department.

Education Della Villa earned his Medicine and Surgery degree (MD) from the University of Bologna in 1985. He specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation under the supervision of Pier Giorgio Marchetti and Maurilio Marcacci at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, completing his residency in Orthopaedic and Sport Rehabilitation in 1988.

From 1987 to 1988, as part of his residency training, Della Villa completed a fellowship with Michael Dillingham, Director of the Sports Medicine Programme at Stanford University, and with Richard Eagleston, physical therapist for the Stanford Swimming Team.

In 1991, he completed a Master's degree in Medical management at the SDA Bocconi School of Management at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. In 1990, the clinic relocated to the vicinity of the Bologna FC headquarters at Casteldebole. In 1992, Della Villa organized the first International Congress of Sport Rehabilitation and Traumatology, which evolved into the annual Football Medicine Conference. In 2009, the group received accreditation as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence.

In 2000, he co-founded the Isokinetic Educational and Research Department with physiologist Giulio Sergio Roi to advance clinical training and scientific output. Throughout the 2000s, Della Villa directed the expansion of the Isokinetic network across Italy, establishing facilities in Milan (2001), Turin (2003), Verona (2004), Rome (2005), and Rimini (2008). He later oversaw international expansion, opening clinics in London (2012) and Athens (2024) and started scientific collaborations with, among others, Freddie Fu at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Della Villa has served as a board member and collaborator for multiple scientific societies. He was the president of the Rehabilitation Committee of the Italian Scientific Society SIAGASCOT from 2006 to 2010, and since 2008, he has served as a member of the Sports Injury and Rehabilitation Committee of the International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS). He is also a faculty member and active collaborator with the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA), the European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians (ECOSEP) and FIFA Medical.

Athlete rehabilitation Over the years, Della Villa and his centers have managed the rehabilitation of professional athletes. For example, they helped footballer Eraldo Pecci return to the pitch 11 days after a meniscus operation in 1988, and enabled Roberto Baggio to play 90 days after an anterior cruciate ligament rupture in 2002. The network has treated professional athletes across multiple sports, including Olympic skier Alberto Tomba, football World Cup champions such as Gianluigi Buffon, Luca Toni, and Filippo Inzaghi, alongside basketball players like Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli and Miloš Teodosić. As of 2024, the facilities treat thousands of patients annually.

Research Della Villa's clinical work and research focus on sports medicine, orthopaedic rehabilitation, and the prevention and treatment of sports injuries, with a specific emphasis on association football. His research investigates anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction and protocols for safe return to play post-surgery using structured functional recovery programs.

Through the Isokinetic Educational and Research Department, Della Villa has conducted systematic video analyses of ACL injuries in professional male footballers to identify non-contact injury mechanisms, biomechanics, and situational patterns. He has also researched the epidemiology of second ACL injuries following initial reconstructions using data from the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study. Furthermore, his studies have assessed clinical outcomes and early sports practice following arthroscopic autologous chondrocyte implantation. He has additionally published on the rehabilitation process from the perspective of a patient, documenting his own recovery from a triple cervical disc herniation and subsequent neck surgery. Della Villa also maintains an active research collaboration with the University of Bologna.

Distinctions 2013: American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine Sports Health T. David Sisk Award

Selected works