Simone Barone was born in Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, on 30 April 1978. Having worked his way up through the youth teams at Parma, he made his Serie A debut with the Gialloblù in the 1996/97 season. He then had a spell in the lower leagues, gaining a historic promotion up to Serie A with Chievo Verona in the 2000/01 season, and also shocking the country with an incredible effort to stay up the subsequent year. He returned to Parma in 2002, then signing a permanent contract with Palermo ahead of the 2004/05 season, where he was part of the side that gained the club’s first-ever UEFA Cup qualification. After playing for Torino, Cagliari and Livorno in the twilight of his career, on 11 January 2013 he hung up his boots and began his career as a coach, first taking over a youth team at Modena, then moving on to the Primavera, and subsequently taking a coordinating role in Parma’s youth sector. He was assistant coach to Zambrotta at Delhi Dynamos for the 2016/17 season, before taking charge of Juventus’ Under-16s the following season. Finally, in the summer of 2018 he took charge of Sassuolo’s Berretti side.

He received his first call-up to the National Team on 18 February 2004 at the age of 26, also a part of Coach Lippi’s Azzurri squad for the World Cup finals in 2006: with two appearances at the hallowed competition in Germany, he played a key role in Italy’s success as the country lifted the trophy for the fourth time in its history. He ended his international career with 16 caps and one Azzurri goal, which came in a friendly against Russia on 9 February 2005.