The club's official announcement read: "U.S. Sassuolo Calcio announces that Alberto Aquilani is the new manager of the first team."
Born in Rome in 1984, Aquilani enjoyed a high-level playing career across Roma, Liverpool, Juventus and AC Milan before joining Sassuolo during the winter transfer window of 2017, making 16 appearances and 1,237 minutes for the club in what proved to be a brief but well-regarded spell.
His coaching career began in July 2019 with Fiorentina's Under-18 side, before he quickly became part of Giuseppe Iachini's first-team staff at the Tuscan club.
From July 2020, Aquilani took charge of Fiorentina's Primavera side, winning the Coppa Italia Primavera in 2019-20 and repeating the feat in each of the following two seasons, also claiming the corresponding Supercoppa in both campaigns. At the end of the 2022-23 season, Aquilani was named Primavera Coach of the Season after finishing third in the regular season and runner-up in the play-offs.
He moved into senior management at the start of 2023-24 with Pisa in Serie B, finishing 13th with 46 points. After a year away from coaching, he returned with Catanzaro, finishing fifth with 59 points and reaching the play-off final via wins over Avellino and Palermo — though Monza ultimately won promotion to Serie A on the strength of their higher regular-season finish across the two-legged final.
Sassuolo's vice-president and Mapei chief executive Veronica Squinzi welcomed the appointment in personal terms.
"I'm very pleased with this choice. It actually is a warm welcome back, since Aquilani wore neroverde in 2017. Since then we both have grown and I think that, together, we can write new and exciting chapters in the history of our club."
The appointment follows the departure of Fabio Grosso, who has left Sassuolo by mutual consent to take charge at Fiorentina. According to Italian reports, Aquilani had been in parallel discussions with both Sassuolo and Torino before choosing the Emilian club — a decision that subsequently allowed Torino to move for Ignazio Abate.
Sassuolo's statement closed with a simple message: a welcome back, and best wishes for Aquilani's new neroverde chapter.