Career
He was a prolific, and opportunistic penalty box striker, who became a club legend at. Like his successor as captain and as chief goalscorer, Cristiano Lucarelli, his personality prevented him from succeeding at international level Protti spent the majority of his early career playing for teams in lower divisions.
He made his career debut in Serie C1 at the age of 16, with his home-town club Rimini, on 27 May 1984.
After two seasons with the club, he later moved on to in 1985, for three seasons. After a season period with Virescit Bergamo, he was acquired by Messina in 1989, and he became an important figure with the club, making his Serie B debut with Messina, and scoring 31 goals over three seasons.
During the 1994-1995 season, he scored his first goal in Serie A against Napoli, as well as his first ever hat-trick, against. He came to more widespread notice during the 1995-1996 Serie A season, in which he shared the top-scoring title with Giuseppe Signori, scoring 24 goals (including a brace against Inter), despite his team, Bari, being relegated.
After a spell in Serie B at Reggiana (1998-1999), helping the club to Serie A promotion, Protti returned to in Serie C1 in 1999, where he rapidly became one of the most popular players in that club"s history, scoring 11 goals during his first season with the club
He later captained, leading the club to Serie B promotion during the 2001-2002 Serie C1 season, winning the title, and finishing the campaign as the top-scorer, and the following season he was the top-scorer in Serie B. He subsequently led to Serie A promotion during the 2003–2004 season, before retiring in 2005 after the team had finished a surprising 9th in their first top division campaign in many years, leaving the captain"s armband to Cristiano Lucarelli. Protti"s number 10 was then retired by the club He has also been given the freedom of the city of in 2007.
During the awarding ceremony, he asked the #10 jersey not to be retired any longer in order to "give anybody back the dream to dress it one day".
The number will be reassigned starting from the 2007-2008 season, with Francesco Tavano wearing the number 10 shirt.