Pallacanestro Varese

He joined in 2010, when a consortium called "Varese nel Cuore" took the club over. Two years earlier, in 2008, a financial crisis had sent Varese down to the second division (LegaDue). They came back up in 2009. The club has never gone bankrupt since its foundation on 1 August 1945, which few Italian clubs of its age can say.

Its weight in European basketball comes from a single stretch of about fifteen years. From 1956 to 1975 the team played as Ignis, named for its sponsor, and wore yellow and blue instead of the white and red that gave it the nickname I biancorossi . Under that name Varese won the FIBA European Champions Cup five times, in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976. They also won the Italian league in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and three FIBA Intercontinental Cups, in 1966, 1970 and 1973. Dino Meneghin and Aldo Ossola came through that side, and the American Bob Morse arrived to play alongside them.

The Italian championship has been won ten times in all. The last was in 1998–99, when the club also took the Supercoppa Italiana. Andrea Bargnani, a product of the academy who later went on to bigger stages, is the best-known name from the years since.

Home games are played at the Itelyum Arena, formerly the Palasport Lino Oldrini, with 5,107 seats. Olimpia Milano is the older, national opponent.