[1] Progressing through the youth ranks of home town club Virtus Bologna he unusually made his debut for the team in Europe's premier competition, the Euroleague, playing a few minutes in 2003.

After playing little part in their championship winning season he dropped down a division to join LegaDue club Sutor Montegranaro.

This proved to be a fruitful move for both sides, he became a starter, helped promote the club to the first division in 2006 and then on to the playoffs, his good performances even led to a call up to the league All star game.

[2] However Vitali's time at Armani Jeans ended on a sour note when the club cancelled the last 2 years of his contract, he then joined rivals Lottomatica Roma.

He was regularly called up from there on but remained a fringe player, part of Italy's EuroBasket 2013 squad, he played sparingly.