Roma Women stars welcomed home as heroes after Italy displays

Roma Women players Elisa Bartoli, Rosalia Pipitone and Annamaria Serturini were among the Italy squad that were invited to Rome's Quirinale on Thursday, for an audience with the country's president, Sergio Mattarella.

Milena Bertolini's side reached the quarter-finals of the tournament in France - a result that few had expected before the tournament. Along the way they beat Australia, Jamaica and China; eventually going out at the hands of finalists Netherlands.

Along the way they won over the support of a vast number of Italians - with their games later in the tournament receiving record television ratings.

"I asked for this audience to give you all my compliments, you had an amazing World Cup," said Italy's president, Sergio Mattarella.

"I wanted to thank you all publicly, because you had the whole country following you - it was a moment where everyone came together, something the country needs."

Speaking to Roma TV after being received at the President's Quarters, Bartoli - who made an appearance in every Italy match - underlined her pride at what the group had achieved.

"Even if going out in the quarter-finals was a disappointment, overall we are pleased with how we performed," Bartoli told Roma TV.

"To see how many people followed us and supported us was amazing, I don't think we were expecting all the messages of support we got. I think we can say that we achieved what we wanted out of this World Cup.

"I think it has already proven a turning point; there is more investment and more interest in the game that can only be good for women's football in the future."

Club teammate Annamaria Serturini, the youngest member of the Azzurre squad, made her World Cup debut late in the defeat to the Netherlands.

"To play in a World Cup was a dream I had for so long, and I managed to do that in our final game," added Serturini.

"I will come home from this tournament with great memories of everything, the emotions we experienced and also the things I learned from the coach.

"Throughout this experience I was able to observe some great players, and learn a bit from all of them. We still ended up winners, because we won over the Italian fans and helped them fall in love with our team. That is really our biggest victory of all."