1996 Italian Open – Women's singles

Three-time defending champion Conchita Martínez defeated Martina Hingis in the final, 6–2, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1996 Italian Open.

Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top eight seeds received a bye to the second round.


 * 1) 🇩🇪 Steffi Graf (quarterfinals)
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Conchita Martínez (champion)
 * 3) 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (quarterfinals)
 * 4)  Iva Majoli (semifinals)
 * 5) 🇧🇬 Magdalena Maleeva (quarterfinals)
 * 6)  Martina Hingis (final)
 * 7)  Irina Spîrlea (semifinals)
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Nathalie Tauziat (quarterfinals)
 * 9) 🇦🇹 Judith Wiesner (third round)
 * 10) 🇩🇪 Petra Begerow (first round)
 * 11)  Yayuk Basuki (second round)
 * 12) 🇫🇷 Sandrine Testud (third round)
 * 13) 🇺🇸 Lindsay Lee (second round)
 * 14)  Joannette Kruger (second round)
 * 15) 🇦🇷 Florencia Labat (first round)
 * 16) 🇦🇹 Barbara Schett (third round)