[1][2][3] At international level, he also captained the Italian side since 2002 till the 2007 Rugby World Cup, before being replaced in the permanent role by Sergio Parisse.

After a two-year spell with RC Narbonne in the French Top14, in the summer of 2006 he joined English Premiership side Gloucester Rugby when he was considered by many to be one of the best players in the world around the time, being selected into the starting team for their first game of the season and immediately taking the role of captain.

In his first-ever World Cup start, against Tonga, he suffered an injury and missed the decisive group-stage match against Wales, which saw the Azzurri eliminated from the competition.

At the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he led the Italian team to a decisive final group-stage match against Scotland, again missing access to the knock-out stage.

Despite never been considered a violent player, his rough and direct playing style, together with his at times conflictual relationship with referees, have led Bortolami to collect seven yellow cards in his long international career, surpassed in this unenviable ranking only by the Australian Michael Hooper and the Georgian Viktor Kolelishvili, both with eight.