After a short parenthesis in the secondary Schio's team, Montali was called to lead Sisley Treviso, property of the Benetton family, which had till then scored little success despite strong financial investments.
In 1998 he was attracted by another ambitious project: to take the reins of the newly formed team of Rome, deploying famous but aging champions like Andrea Gardini or Marco Bracci, and try to win something after a devoid of victories lasting twenty years.
In 2000, in Palaeur in Rome beating any record of crowding for Italian volleyball, Montali's men won its scudetto defeating Andrea Giani's Las Daytona Modena.
With such a career at his back, Montali was judged the right person to revamp the fate of Italy's volleyball national team, which seemed to be in crisis after many of the champions of 1990s's successes had retired.
The team and the coach received awards for their role in maintaining high interest in volleyball in their country at the Palazzo del Quirinale from the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.