Giorgio Belladonna (7 June 1923 – 12 May 1995) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

player, one of the greatest of all time. He won 16 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with

Walter Avarelli Walter Avarelli (3 June 1912 – 1987) was an Italian bridge player, a member of the famous Blue Team, with whom he won nine Bermuda Bowls and three World Team Olympiads from 1956 to 1972. Avarelli was born in Rome and became a judge there. He fi ...

from 1956 to 1969 and later with Benito Garozzo. A leading theoretician, he was the principal inventor of the

Roman Club Roman Club ( it, Fiori Romano) is an artificial bridge bidding system devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna and Walter Avarelli of Italy's Blue Team. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships, three Olympiads and numerous Eu ...

bidding system A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention. The purpose of bid ...

, from 1956, and with Benito Garozzo after 1969 created Super Precision, a complex strong club based method. He was known as much for his mercurial temperament as for the brilliance of his card play; see, for example, Belladonna coup. Belladonna died of lung cancer, according to his daughter, on 12 May 1995 in Rome. He was survived by his wife Maria Antoinetta, one daughter, one son, and four grandchildren. Alan Truscott described him as "a cheerful extrovert" and "normally unflappable at the table". He had been "a potential soccer star, but World War II interrupted that career path". He worked in the Social Security Administration until 1970.

Bridge accomplishments

World championships

;Wins Belladonna won 16 world championships, all as a member of the Italy open . *

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wuh ...

(13) 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1969; 1973, 1974, 1975 *

World Team Olympiad The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women ("Op ...

(3) 1964, 1968, 1972 From 1957 to 1969 the Blue Team with nearly uniform personnel and partnerships won all 10 Bermuda Bowl tournaments (after 1959, as defending champion with another European champion in the field). It placed 6th in the inaugural 1960 Olympiad tournament and won the 1964 and 1968 renditions. After 1969 there were some retirements, including Avarelli's, and some rearrangements, including Belladonna's and Garozzo's establishment of their partnership. In 1975 Italy won its last open team world championship (until 2005) with Belladonna and Garozzo alone "survivors from the great Blue Team". ;Runners-up * Bermuda Bowl 1976, 1979, 1983 * World Team Olympiad 1976

European championships

;Wins * European Open Teams (10) 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1979 ;Runners-up * European Open Teams (3) 1962, 1977, 1983

References

External links

* * * (including 5 "from old catalog") {{DEFAULTSORT:Belladonna, Giorgio 1923 births 1995 deaths Italian contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players Contract bridge writers Sportspeople from Rome Place of birth missing