Just a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday, which he would have celebrated on April 7, Giuseppe 'Geppino' D'Altrui, captain of the Settebello team that won gold at the Rome Olympics on September 3, 1960, under the guidance of Hungarian Endre Zolyomy, has passed away. He beat out the Soviet Union, Hungary and Yugoslavia who then dominated the scene. It is a piece of Italian history, and not just sports history, that is gone: not surprisingly, that national team, winning unexpectedly at the home Olympics that coincided with the rebirth and boom of a country emerging from post-war difficulties, was forever Settebello.
The nickname for the Italian water polo team actually dates back to 1948, when the gold of London was tied to the legend of the players of the Rari Nantes Napoli who amused themselves with cards on the train, but for all water polo lovers, Settebello is a sign of an epic that revolves around Rome '60. A myth continued in Barcelona '92, when in the water to win the third Olympic gold in the discipline for Italy was another D'Altrui, the son Marco, European in Sheffield 1993 and world champion in Rome 1994.
'Geppino' was born in Naples in 1934, and the gold of Rome '60 was the peak of a sports career during which he would have collected 75 appearances in blue, taking part in the Games of Melbourne (1956, fourth place) and Tokyo (1964, another fourth place). His teammates in the historic formation that made the feat in Rome were Dante Rossi, Brunello Spinelli, Eraldo Pizzo, Gianni Lonzi, Franco Lavoratori, Danio Bardi, Rosario Parmegiani, Luigi Marinelli, Salvatore Gionta, Giancarlo Guerrini and Amedeo Ambron (Fiamme oro). He was a player of Rari Nantes Napoli and Fiamme oro. In his palmares also the bronze at the European Championships in Turin 1954, two gold medals at the Mediterranean Games of Barcelona 1955 and Naples 1963 and a silver at the Mediterranean Games of Beirut 1959. On December 15, 2015 D'Altrui was awarded by the Coni with the golden collar for sports merit. After hanging up his cap, he had embarked on a coaching career, started in 1960 at the helm of the Rari Nantes Napoli, continued with Rn Salerno (1966-1968), Ss Nicola Mameli (1973-1976), Pescara Water Polo (1997-1981) and Chiavari Nuoto (1982-1984). D'Altrui, the federnuoto informs, proclaiming itself in mourning for the death of one of its symbol champions, passed away overnight in Pescara, his adopted city.