Ferdinando De Girogi's side overcame the partisan home crowd at the Spodek Arena in Katowice to pull off the 22-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-20 victory.

Daniele Lavia put in another spellbinding performance to help his team win their fourth gold medal of the tournament.

The outside hitter registered a leading 19 points including two blocks and an ace while Alessandro Michieletto and Yuri Romanò scored 14 and 13, respectively.

Italy's previous three titles came consecutively in 1990, 1994 and 1998 but they had not reached the final since.

Earlier on, veteran Wallace de Souza was instrumental in securing Brazil's bronze medal as the 35-year-old scored a match-high of 22 points.

In what was his last ever match for his country, De Souza produced 19 successful spikes, and a 58 per cent success rate in attack as Brazil won 25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 25-18 against Slovenia.

Outside hitter Yoandy Leal contributed another 19 points to the victory, while middle blocker Lucas Saatkamp contributed five blocks and three aces towards a 12-point match tally.

Tonček Štern was Slovenia’s most prolific scorer with 17 points to his name.

The result secured Brazil's sixth consecutive medal at the World Championships and seventh overall.

"It means a lot to have another medal," said Brazilian captain Bruno.

"I think it's the sixth in a row!

"For sure, we wanted more, but we are so proud, because we've had a lot of physical problems all this championship and all this year, but we never stopped fighting.

"So that's it.

"It's a bronze medal that we have to celebrate, value and be proud.

"We had a really nice group here, with really good energy.

"I was trying to help and motivate everybody and it was really fun.

"We had a great time at this World Championship."