Born in Grimacco, Province of Udine, Fanna spent his youth career with Udinese. He moved to Atalanta at the age of 17, making 20 appearances and scoring a goal in his debut season in Serie B. During the 1976–77 season, the young winger played an important role in achieving Serie Apromotion for the Bergamo side. In 1977, he moved to Serie A giants Juventus, making his Serie A debut with the Turin club. Despite achieving notable domestic success, he failed to live up to his potential during his time at the club, and he was often played out of position. During his last few seasons with Juventus, he managed to earn a place in the starting line-up, and he was still able to contribute to his team's three Serie A titles, which he won during the 1977–78, 1980–81, and 1981–82 seasons, also winning a Coppa Italia with the club during the 1978–79 season. In 1982, he transferred to Hellas Verona F.C., where he helped the team to win an historic Serie A title during the 1984–85 season under manager Osvaldo Bagnoli, playing alongside other key players such as Roberto Tricella and Antonio Di Gennaro. In 1985, Fanna moved to Inter. Under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, he contributed to the victory of Inter's record-breaking 1988–89 Serie A title, although he only made 13 appearances. During the 1989–90 season, he returned to Verona under Bagnoli, as he was unable to prevent the club's relegation to Serie B that year. The following season, he helped his club to return to Serie A, however, during the 1991–92 season, the club was relegated once again. He retired in 1993, after a mid-table finish in Serie B with Verona that season. Throughout his career, he won five Serie A titles and a Coppa Italia. Fanna is one of six footballers to win Serie A with three different clubs, a feat he managed with Juventus, Verona, and Inter; the other five players to have managed the same feat are Giovanni Ferrari, Filippo Cavalli, Sergio Gori, Aldo Serena and Attilio Lombardo.
International career
Fanna represented Italy at Under-21 level on 13 occasions between 1976–80, scoring 3 goals; he also took part in the 1978 and 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Championships with the Under-21 side. He made his debut in 1977. He also represented the Italian Under-23 Olympic side on 6 occasions between 1979–84, scoring 3 goals. He took part with Italy at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where the team finished in fourth place after reaching the semi-finals. He also represented the Italian senior side on 14 occasions between 1983–85.
Style of play
Fanna was a tactically versatile midfielder, who was primarily deployed as a right winger, although he was capable of playing on either flank, or also in the centre as an attacking midfielder; he was also played out of position as a second striker on occasion, which was not his preferred role, however. He was a quick and creative player with good technique and dribbling skills, who was known for his ability to get past opponents in one on one situations on the flank due to his speedon the ball and his use of feints. Although he possessed an accurate shot and was capable of scoring goals, he was known in particular for being an excellent assist provider and crosser of the ball. Regarded as one of Italy's most promising prospects in his youth, despite his talent, he never truly lived up to his potential, and he mainly excelled in smaller teams, where the play would be centred around him. Due to his problematic and introversive character, he was somewhat inconsistent during his stints with larger clubs, where he often drifted in and out of games, as he struggled to handle the pressure placed on him; as a result, he frequently suffered from a lack of confidence with bigger teams, and was more prone to errors. During his time at Verona, however, he played an important role in the team's success by utilising his skills and intelligent movement to hold up the ball in order to create space for teammates and full-backs making overlapping attacking runs. Furthermore, his pace, positional sense, and ability to make attacking runs allowed him to excel in their newly developed counter-attacking style of play.
