Giorgio Belladonna

Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian bridge player, one of the greatest of all time. He won 16 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli from 1956 to 1969 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. 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 Antonietta, 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 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1969; 1973, 1974, 1975
World Team Olympiad 1964, 1968, 1972

From 1957 to 1969 the Blue Team with nearly uniform personnel and partnerships won all 10 Bermuda Bowl tournaments. 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 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 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1979

;Runners-up

European Open Teams 1962, 1977, 1983