One of his greatest tournament successes followed in 1971 when he finished second at Venice (after Walter Browne and ahead of Vlastimil Hort, Lubomir Kavalek and Svetozar Gligorić).
A board one score of 73.7% (+12 =4 −3) earned him the individual bronze medal (behind Anatoly Karpov and Alberto Delgado, jointly with Eugenio Torre), while also securing his final grandmaster norm.
As no Italian before him had achieved the title of International Grandmaster, he gained overnight celebrity status when the honour was bestowed on him the same year.
Around this time, British Chess Magazine nicknamed him "The Italian Fury", due mainly to his formidable collection of tournament wins, but also for his enterprising, tactical style of play.
With regard to world championship qualification attempts, he won at the Caorle zonal of 1975 and play-off match vs. Joaqim Durao to qualify for the prestigious Manila Interzonal of 1976, where he finished joint 10th (with Boris Spassky, Wolfgang Uhlmann and Florin Gheorghiu).