Giorgio Belladonna

Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian contract bridge player who lived from 1923 to 1995 and is widely regarded as one of the game's greatest competitors. He won 16 world championship titles between 1957 and 1975 as a member of Italy's famed Blue Team, partnering Walter Avarelli for his most prolific stretch from 1956 to 1969 and later partnering Benito Garozzo. Beyond his tournament record he made lasting theoretical contributions to bridge, credited as the principal inventor of the Roman Club bidding system and a co-creator, with Garozzo, of the complex Super Precision method; before turning to bridge he had shown promise as a soccer player until the Second World War ended that path, and he died of lung cancer in Rome in 1995.