Girelli scored twice in the second half, either side of Ada Hegerberg's strike, sending Italy into the last four of the Euros for the first time since 1997.

Italy dominated the first half and maybe should have taken the lead when Emma Severini was one-on-one with Cecilie Fiskerstrand, but the goalkeeper kept out her tight-angled shot from the left.

Signe Gaupset came closest for Norway just before half-time, as her audacious long-range effort flew just wide of the right post, much to the backtracking Laura Giuliani's relief.

Italy started the second half brightly, too, and got its reward just five minutes after the break. Sofia Cantore's low drive from the right of the box was missed by Fiskerstrand, and Girelli had stayed onside to help it into the net.

Norway then won a penalty seven minutes later when Hegerberg was rugby tackled in the box by Elena Linari to win a spot-kick. However, she squandered that chance, curling her effort wide of the right post.

Hegerberg, however, took the next chance that fell her way, latching onto Maren Mjelde's looping pass and poking it past Giuliani and into the bottom-left corner after the goalkeeper had rushed out.

Norway piled the pressure on but failed to take its chances and was punished for it. Girelli had the final say as she found space at the far post to head Cantore's left-sided cross over Fiskerstrand and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Italy coach Andrea Soncin described the victory as "the biggest gift".

"It's incredible, beautiful. In front of all these people, so many messages arrived from Italy the last few days," he said.

"It's something fantastic. I think this is the biggest gift we can give to all those who watch us, to all those little girls, those young women who live football with passion."

Italy will now face either England or Sweden for a place in the final, but for Norway, it was more heartbreak in the latter stages of a major tournament.

It has now lost each of its past three knockout stage games at major tournaments, its joint-longest such run of defeats, excluding third-place play-offs, also losing three in a row across the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA Women's Euro 2001, and the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

And it was also a disappointing outing for Norway captain Hegerberg, who became the first player since records began in 2013 to miss two penalties at the UEFA Women's Euros.

"It's bitter, it's really bitter," Hegerberg said. "I must honestly say that I am proud of the group and how we have performed.

"We are close to being in the top four in Europe, but it's not enough."