In 1996–97 he signed for Serie C1 minnows Carpi, a team which featured a young Marco Materazzi among their players,[4] and led the Emilia-Romagna side to a surprising fourth place which allowed them to play the promotion playoffs.

Initially with no club for the following season, De Canio was then signed by Pescara, where he narrowly missed a surprising promotion to the top flight.

[6] In 2000–01, after a very impressive start, Udinese entered into a long result crisis which brought to De Canio being sacked on 19 March 2001 following a home loss to Parma and his replacement with Luciano Spalletti, who managed to save the club from relegation.

He consequently left Napoli and was appointed at the helm of Reggina during the 2002–03 season replacing sacked Bortolo Mutti, maintaining their place in the Italian top flight after winning a tie-breaking playoff to Atalanta.

He was then appointed in January 2005 by Serie A minnows Siena, a team which he already coached some years earlier, to replace Luigi Simoni, leading his side to escape relegation for two consecutive seasons.

Early in January QPR also managed to secure striker Rowan Vine in a permanent move following his brief loan spell which had ended in December.

During his period in charge of the club, De Canio became a very popular figure among the QPR faithful, due to the style and flair he brought back to their game.

As a result, he was, along with the club's owners, immortalised in the supporters' song "Gigi De Canio, Bernie and Flavio" (to the tune of La donna è mobile).