Baroni played as a defender in his player age and started his career in Fiorentina. He had a career lasting 20 years. During this period, he won the Serie A championship and the Italian Super Cup with Naples.
After becoming a coach, Baroni has 25 years of coaching experience and he took charge of Lazio's coaching last season. His highlights of coaching include leading Benevento to enter Serie A for the first time through the Serie B upgrade play-off in 2016-17, and leading Lecce to win the Serie B championship in 2021-22.