Defending champion Thomas Muster defeated Richard Krajicek in the final, 6–2, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 Italian Open.

Seeds

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4

Qualifying

Qualifying seeds

• # 🇩🇪 Marc-Kevin Goellner (qualifying competition) • # 🇨🇿 David Rikl (first round) • # Frederik Fetterlein (first round) • # 🇭🇺 Sándor Noszály (first round) • # 🇸🇪 Magnus Norman (second round) • # (n/a) • # 🇪🇸 Óscar Martínez (second round) • # 🇮🇹 Marco Meneschincheri (qualifying competition) • # 🇫🇷 Thierry Guardiola (qualified) • # 🇮🇹 Laurence Tieleman (first round) • # 🇦🇷 Mariano Zabaleta (qualified) • # 🇫🇷 Daniel Courcol (second round) • # 🇧🇷 Roberto Jabali (qualifying competition) • # 🇫🇷 Frédéric Fontang (qualifying competition) • # 🇫🇷 Thierry Champion (qualifying competition) • # 🇪🇸 Emilio Benfele Álvarez (qualified)

Qualifiers

• # 🇪🇸 Emilio Benfele Álvarez • # 🇦🇹 Herbert Wiltschnig • # 🇦🇺 Todd Larkham • # 🇮🇹 Corrado Borroni • # 🇦🇷 Mariano Zabaleta • # 🇪🇬 Tamer El-Sawy • # 🇮🇹 Vincenzo Santopadre • # 🇫🇷 Thierry Guardiola

Qualifying draw

First qualifier

Second qualifier

Third qualifier

Fourth qualifier

Fifth qualifier

Sixth qualifier

Seventh qualifier

Eighth qualifier