[6] He was first called up to the first team under Roberto Donadoni, playing some friendlies in the summer of 2009, before making his Serie A debut under Walter Mazzarri, on 24 January 2010, in a 2–0 win away to Livorno.

[10] He made his debut in the Italian second division on 26 August 2011 in the opening round against Hellas Verona,[11] and on 4 September scored his first goal for Pescara away against Modena.

The competition for places with players like Edinson Cavani, Goran Pandev, Eduardo Vargas and Omar El Kaddouri meant Insigne often started matches on the substitutes' bench.

[30] In April 2017, Insigne scored his third brace in four appearances for Napoli to take his tally to 14 goals for the Serie A season, surpassing his previous personal best for a single campaign.

He made his debut with the under-21 side on 6 October 2011 in a European qualifying match against Liechtenstein, scoring two goals and providing two assists in a 7–2 victory.

[44] With the under-21 team, he participated in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship under manager Devis Mangia, playing an important role in Italy's tournament run.

[46] Insigne was able to recuperate in time for the semi-final match against the Netherlands, and he came on to set up Fabio Borini's winner which sent the Italians into the final.

He made his senior debut on 11 September 2012 in the World Cup qualifier match against Malta in Modena, coming on as a replacement for Alessandro Diamanti.

[52] On 20 June 2014, Insigne made his debut in the World Cup in Italy's second group match, against Costa Rica, replacing Antonio Candreva in the second half of the 1–0 defeat.

[54] He made his first appearance of the tournament on 22 June, coming off the bench in Italy's final group match, which ended in a 1–0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland, striking the post and later receiving a yellow card in injury time.

[55] In the round of 16, at the Stade de France in Paris on 27 June, he came off the bench once again to help set-up Graziano Pellè's 91st minute volley to give the Azzurri a 2–0 win over defending champions Spain.

[56] On 2 July, he made a further substitute appearance in the quarter-final fixture against Germany and scored Italy's first penalty in the resulting shoot-out, which ended in a 6–5 loss to the reigning World Cup champions.

[58][59] In June 2021, Insigne was included in Italy's squad for UEFA Euro 2020 by manager Roberto Mancini,[60] and was later assigned the number ten shirt.

[67] Nicknamed "Lorenzo Il Magnifico" ("Lorenzo the Magnificent", in Italian),[68] Insigne is a fast, talented, skillful and diminutive right footed winger, with an eye for the goal, who is usually deployed on the left in a 4–3–3 or in a 4–2–3–1 formation, which allows him to utilise his acceleration to cut inside and curl shots on goal with his stronger foot, in particular from outside the penalty area.

[69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78] Due to his penchant for scoring goals in his manner, which according to Insigne was inspired by his "idol" Alessandro Del Piero's trademark goals, in 2021, the neologism tiraggiro – derived from "tir a gir" ("tiro a giro", in Italian, or "curling shot", in English) in Insigne's native Neapolitan dialect – was coined and included in the Italian encyclopedia Treccani.

[4][71] Insigne's resulting low centre of gravity, combined with his creativity, quick feet and technical ability, make him extremely quick and agile in possession, and give him excellent balance and control of the ball, which, along with his flair, intelligent movement, speed, and dribbling skills, allows him to beat opponents and create space for his team in attacking areas, or make attacking runs off the ball into the box.

[30] Manager Delio Rossi also likened him to compatriots Fabrizio Miccoli – "for his turn of pace and cleverness" – and Gianfranco Zola in 2012.