Festa started his career at his hometown club Cagliari, after impressing at Cagliari he joined Inter Milan. In his first year at the club he only made 4 league starts for Inter, and was transferred to Serie A rivals A.S. Roma. His form for Roma then earned him a move back to Inter Milan where he became a regular starter for the club, however prior to joining Middlesbrough he lost his place in the team and found himself mainly as a substitute. In 1997, Festa joined Middlesbrough, being one of the first Italians to play in the Premier League. Festa arrived at Middlesbrough from Inter Milan in the midst of a relegation battle to add steel to the defence. Festa was the second Italian at the club with Middlesbrough also having Italian InternationalFabrizio Ravanelli at the club. Festa scored on an impressive winning debut against Sheffield Wednesday in January 1997. Festa had been an accomplished martial arts master, a junior Italian tennis champion and captain of the Army team when he did his national service. He had shrewd positional sense, was tough in the tackle, a dominating figure in the air and got forward on occasions to score the odd important goal. After scoring in the semi final against Chesterfield, a goal that could have been even more historic was ruled out when Festa's header in the 1997 FA Cup Final was deemed offside. That was one of three Wembley appearances he made in his first 18 months at the club. When many of Middlesbrough's players left following relegation, Festa stayed and helped win promotion back to the top flight. His performances earned him the Middlesbrough player of the year award in 1998. Festa was squeezed out by the arrivals of England internationals Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu but remained as a squad player. In his final season at Boro they again reached the FA Cup semi finals. This time they faced Arsenal. Festa came on as a substitute for the injured Ehiogu with the score poised at 0–0. However, he unfortunately scored an own goal which proved to be decisive, as Arsenal reached the final with a narrow 1–0 win. Other memorable moments for Festa include scoring a late equaliser in a 3–3 draw with Southampton despite his team being reduced to 9 men, and an equaliser against North East rivalsNewcastle United. In 2002 Festa left for a short spell at Portsmouth, where he scored once against Bradford City and was part of the squad that won the Championship and gained promotion to the Premier League. In 2003, he returned to Sardinia, joining Cagliari and helping the rossoblu to win promotion to Serie A. In 2004, he joined then-Eccellenza side F.C. Nuorese Calcio, serving as team captain and leading the club to two consecutive promotions and an unsuccessful appearance in the Serie C2 campaign playoffs in his third season. He agreed to leave Nuorese by mutual consent on September 2007. He then signed for Tavolara of Serie D, coached by his former teammate Vittorio Pusceddu.
Style of play
Usually deployed as a central defender, Festa was known for his strength in the air, ability to organise the back-line, and his eye for goal as a defender, having scored at least once in every season of his career since the 1993–94 season.
Coaching career
Cagliari Assistant
On 14 April 2010 he was appointed as assistant to newly appointed head coach Giorgio Melis at his former club Cagliari. Later in the seasons 2010–11 and 2011–12 he has been the coach of Primavera in the same club.
On 14 June 2012 he was appointed the new head coach of Lumezzane in Lega Pro Prima Divisione. He left Lumezzane in March 2013 and was replaced as head coach by the Lumezzane captain Michele Marcolini.
On 28 January, after Festa had been shown round Leeds training ground with prospective new owner Massimo Cellino, it is believed that Festa was ordered to go in the dugout for Leeds' game against Ipswich Town, this was refused by those at the club. On transfer deadline day 31 January 2014 he was tipped to replace Brian McDermott as new head coach of Leeds United, a decision which caused uproar amongst the club's fans. With McDermott being reinstated as manager on 1 February during the second half of the Huddersfield Town match, on 3 February 2014 McDermott revealed in his press conference that Gianluca Festa had changed the starting lineup on Friday 31 January for the fixture against Huddersfield Town, only for the team to then be changed back again to the original starting lineup on Saturday 1 February by McDermott's assistant managerNigel Gibbs. Festa watched the game from the stands with Nigel Gibbs taking Caretaker charge instead of Festa on Saturday lunchtime. McDermott also revealed that on February 3 that Festa was still present in training, however this time acting as a translator for new signing Andrea Tabanelli. Tabanelli was signed in between the window of McDermott's 'sacking' and his reinstatement.
Return to Cagliari
Following Zdeněk Zeman's resignation, Festa was appointed as the new head coach of relegation-threatened Serie A side Cagliari on 22 April 2015, returning to the club he both played for and served as assistant manager. Despite winning a number of matches Festa was unable to prevent Cagliari being relegated to Serie B, and the end of the season Festa left the club and was replaced by Massimo Rastelli as the head coach.
On 1 November 2015 he was named new manager of Como in the Serie B. He was sacked on 13 March 2016 with the club bottom of the Serie B.
AEL
On 24 September 2018 he was named new manager of Larissa F.C. in the Super League Greece. During his time in Larissa, he managed to keep the team in the Super League in a difficult season, avoiding relegation. At the end of the season he decided to resign from the role of head coach.
