Italy's touring car championship was established in 1987 under Group A rules, which brought fierce battles involving notable names such as Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia, and Nicola Larini. The series transitioned to Supertouring regulations in 1993, aligning it with the broader European Supertouring movement. Its long history makes it one of the older surviving national touring car championships to have ultimately embraced the TCR framework.
The Supertouring years saw intense manufacturer competition between Audi, BMW, and Alfa Romeo. Emanuele Pirro dominated with Audi in 1994 and 1995, winning the championship both years. Audi's Quattro four-wheel-drive advantage was such that the FIA imposed a 30 kg penalty and eventually banned four-wheel drive from 1998. Rinaldo Capello claimed the 1996 title for Audi despite late-season pressure from a six-car BMW effort, while BMW's Emanuele Naspetti recovered the title in 1997.
Alfa Romeo entered the championship seriously from 1993, running the 155 model through Nordauto Engineering, the team that would become N.Technology. The combination finally came good with Fabrizio Giovanardi winning consecutive titles in 1998 and 1999 in the Alfa Romeo 156. With Audi officially withdrawing at the end of 1999 to concentrate on Le Mans, the Supertouring series lost a critical manufacturer and folded at the end of that season.
The series resumed in 2003 under Super Production rules as the Superproduzione, though early editions drew only four to six cars per weekend. Salvatore Tavano won the inaugural Superproduzione in an Alfa Romeo 147, and the series ran as an all-147 affair the following year. When the WTCC was established in 2005 and Super 2000 regulations became widely adopted, the Italian series rebounded more credibly under the same technical rules. Alex Zanardi won the 2005 season in a BMW 320i, while SEAT joined as a full works team in 2006 with Roberto Colciago and Davide Roda. Colciago took the title that year, with returning 1997 champion Naspetti as runner-up.
A further disruption came in 2007 when the championship changed promoter, was renamed ITCC (Italian Touring Car Competition), and lost entries to the WTCC and the rival Superstars Series. The championship was merged with a smaller series midway through 2008 before eventually stabilising.
For 2016, the Italian championship adopted the TCR ruleset as its headline class, connecting it to the global TCR framework introduced by WSC and Marcello Lotti. Under TCR regulations, the series features front-wheel-drive production-based touring cars with 1.75 to 2.0 litre turbocharged engines, all subject to Balance of Performance adjustments to equalise different makes. This evolution repositioned Italian touring car racing within a cost-controlled, internationally standardised framework rather than as a bespoke national formula.
The championship's longevity across four distinct regulatory eras — Group A, Supertouring, Super 2000/Production, and TCR — reflects its central role in Italian circuit racing. Its alumni roster spans multiple generations and multiple pinnacle series, with Pirro and Capello among its most decorated champions given their subsequent victories at Le Mans. The adoption of TCR regulations ensured the series remained viable and competitive at a time when many national touring car championships were struggling to attract manufacturer support.