Marco Delvecchio gave Italy the lead in the 55th minute and they held on until the final minute of injury time, when Sylvain Wiltord crashed a low drive past Italian keeper Francesco Toldo to take the game into extra time.
France won the game just before half-time in extra-time when Robert Pirès cut the ball back for David Trezeguet to fire the golden goal and win the tournament for France.
Other memorable events to happen on this day:
1904: The first recorded speedway race was held at Portman Road, Ipswich.
2005: American Venus Williams beat number one seed Lindsay Davenport 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 9-7 in the Wimbledon women's singles final.
2010: Manchester City signed Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure.
2011: Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko beat Britain's David Haye on points in their world heavyweight unification bout in Hamburg. Haye later blamed a toe injury for the defeat.