Giorgio Belladonna

Garozzo & Belladonna (1967)

Giorgio Belladonna (7 June 1923 – 12 May 1995)[1] was an Italian bridge player, one of the greatest of all time.[2] He won 16 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli from 1956 to 1969[2] and later with Benito Garozzo. A leading theoretician, he was the principal inventor of the Roman Club bidding system, from 1956, and with Benito Garozzo after 1969 created Super Precision, a complex strong club based method.[3] 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.[2]

Alan Truscott described him as "a cheerful extrovert" and "normally unflappable at the table".[4] He had been "a potential soccer star, but World War II interrupted that career path". He worked in the Social Security Administration until 1970.[2]

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