# 1997 Italian Open – Women's doubles

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Irina Spîrlea were the defending champions but only Spîrlea competed that year with Gigi Fernández.
Fernández and Spîrlea lost in the quarterfinals to Nicole Arendt and Manon Bollegraf.
Arendt and Bollegraf won in the final 6–2, 6–4 against Conchita Martínez and Patricia Tarabini.

## Seeds

Champion seeds are indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which those seeds were eliminated. The top four seeded teams received byes into the second round.
* Larisa Savchenko / Helena Suková (second round)
* Nicole Arendt / Manon Bollegraf (champions)
* Alexandra Fusai / Nathalie Tauziat (quarterfinals)
* Yayuk Basuki / Caroline Vis (semifinals)
* Gigi Fernández / Irina Spîrlea (quarterfinals)
* Conchita Martínez / Patricia Tarabini (final)
* Sabine Appelmans / Miriam Oremans (second round)
* Alexia Dechaume-Balleret / Sandrine Testud (first round)

## Draw
### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking

### Finals

| Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| 6 | Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini | 2 | 4 | |
| 2 | Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf | 6 | 6 | |

### Top half

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| | | | | | 1 | L Savchenko H Suková | 7 | 2 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| | A Kournikova E Likhovtseva | 6 | 6 | | | A Kournikova E Likhovtseva | 6 | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | | |
| LL | B Fulco-Villella L Pleming | 2 | 0 | | | | | | | | A Kournikova E Likhovtseva | 7 | 6 | | | | |
| | B Schett P Schnyder | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | B Schett P Schnyder | 6 | 4 | | | | |
| | I Gorrochategui F Perfetti | 3 | 3 | | | B Schett P Schnyder | 6 | 5 | 7 | | | | | | | | |
| | C Rubin B Schultz-McCarthy | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | S Appelmans M Oremans | 1 | 7 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | S Appelmans M Oremans | 6 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | A Kournikova E Likhovtseva | 6 | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6 | C Martínez P Tarabini | 7 | 6 |
| | | | | | 3 | A Fusai N Tauziat | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Grossman K Habšudová | 6 | 6 | | | A Grossman K Habšudová | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | | | |
| | M Saeki S-T Wang | 3 | 3 | | | | | | | 3 | A Fusai N Tauziat | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| | R Hiraki F Labat | 3 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | 6 | C Martínez P Tarabini | 6 | 6 | | | | |
| | M Murić A Olsza | 6 | 2 | 3 | | R Hiraki F Labat | 2 | 1 | | | | | | | | | |
| | R Dragomir I Majoli | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | C Martínez P Tarabini | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | C Martínez P Tarabini | 6 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Bottom half

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| 8 | A Dechaume-Balleret S Testud | 6 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | P Suárez D Van Roost | 3 | 6 | 7 | | P Suárez D Van Roost | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Coetzer M Pierce | 6 | 6 | | | A Coetzer M Pierce | 2 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Ellwood R McQuillan | 2 | 0 | | | | | | | | P Suárez D Van Roost | 6 | 4 | | | | | |
| | E Callens A-G Sidot | 6 | | | | | | | | 4 | Y Basuki C Vis | 7 | 6 | | | | | |
| | L Montalvo H Nagyová | 2 | r | | | E Callens A-G Sidot | 4 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Y Basuki C Vis | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4 | Y Basuki C Vis | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | G Fernández I Spîrlea | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | 2 | N Arendt M Bollegraf | 6 | 7 |
| Q | A Sugiyama Y Yoshida | 1 | 4 | | 5 | G Fernández I Spîrlea | 6 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| | A Canepa G Casoni | 0 | 6 | 2 | | S Cecchini L Garrone | 1 | 6 | 2 | | | | | | | | | |
| | S Cecchini L Garrone | 6 | 4 | 6 | | | | | | 5 | G Fernández I Spîrlea | 4 | 6 | 5 | | | | |
| | C Morariu M Paz | 6 | 5 | 3 | | | | | | 2 | N Arendt M Bollegraf | 6 | 3 | 7 | | | | |
| | D Graham R Grande | 2 | 7 | 6 | | D Graham R Grande | 3 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | N Arendt M Bollegraf | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | |