[12] Andalò da Savignone, an Italian resident in the small Genoese colony in Zaytun, was sent by the Khans from Beijing to Italy as a diplomat to the pope in 1336.

The Qing dynasty diplomat Li Fengbao was ambassador to Italy in the late 19th century, as were his contemporaries Kung Chao-Yuan, Xue Fucheng and Xu Jingcheng.

One embassy from Daqin (Rome) is recorded as bringing tributary gifts to the Chinese Jin Empire (266–420 AD).

The concession was occupied by the Japanese in September 1943 after Italy surrendered to the Allies, and liberated in October 1945 by the Chinese Army.

[26] On October 16, 1866, a trade treaty between China an Italy was signed, and eight months later the ambassador Count Vittorio Sallier de la Tour, appointed Italian representative to the courts of Jeddo and Beijing, arrived in East Asia.

[25] Ferdinando de Luca was the first Italian ambassador to be headquartered in China, establishing the embassy in Shanghai, which was moved to Beijing at the end of the 1880s.

[25] In 1913, Italy recognized Sun Yat-sen's Republic, and thereafter maintained a position of neutrality in the various conflicts with different parties vying for power in China.

[25] The Italian delegate Pier Pasquale Spinelli then decided to move the embassy's principal seat to Nanjing, while also reopening the detached offices of Beijing and Shanghai.

[25] In 1945, Mussolini's followers kept in touch with Wang Jingwei's government in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, while the post-fascist Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked to resume contact with Chiang Kai-shek, to whom the new Italian representative Sergio Fenoaltea officially presented his credentials in October 1946 in Naijing.

[25] Diplomatic relations were then led by Ezio Mizzan who, in February 1951, reported that the CCP police was restricting ever more his activities and movements and that the permanence of the Italian embassy in Naijing, Chang Kai-shek's and Wang Jingwei's former capital, may cause political inconveniences.

[27][25] After initially leaning towards following such countries as Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom in recognizing China, Italy chose the opposite, dismantling Naijing's embassy and breaking diplomatic relations,[25] influenced by the counsel of the United States, which had initially pondered allowing Italy's recognition of China to pave the way for the inevitable recognition by them.

[27] In the twenty-year break, Italy "limited itself to giving some unspecified duties of observation of the Chinese question" to its general consulate in Hong Kong.

When the virus broke out, Italy was accused of dumping materials used to protect Italians at a low price because it presented 40,000 masks to China.

[41] In May 2020, Chinese official spokespeople tweeted videos of Italians chanting "Grazie, Cina" with China's national anthem playing in the background.

Analysis of the video revealed the video to be doctored and raised concerns about Chinese propaganda activities in the European Union[42] including urging European officials to heap praise on China[43] and attempts to undermine Europe's response to the health crisis and project China and Russia as the only ones with a robust strategy to combat COVID-19.

[49] In November 2024, Italy opened an investigation into Sinochem, the largest shareholder of Pirelli, for potential violations of restrictions to protect Italian national strategic assets.