Gerardo Conforti (28 March 1903 – 29 June 1982) was an Italian

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

. He won different editions of the ''Piazza di Siena'' competition, and competed at the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

Biography

He was born from a wealthy family of Salerno, from Pasquale Conforti and Assunta Di Martino. His parents placed particular attention to his education, and prompted his admission in 1918 to the prestigious

Nunziatella Military School The Nunziatella Military School of Naples, Italy, founded November 18, 1787 under the name of ''Royal Military Academy'' (it.: ), is the oldest Italian institution of military education among those still operating after the Military Academy of Mode ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. While a cadet of the school, he developed a particular passion and ability for

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and became a permanent member of the

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

soccer team, playing as a defender. , Following his admission to the Infantry and Cavalry Academy of

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, he was forced to stop playing soccer, and instead he became a skilled horseman. In 1934 he won in

Sanremo Sanremo, also spelled San Remo in English and formerly in Italian, is a (municipality) on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination ...

, on ''Claudine'', and two years after he won the prestigious ''Premio Roma'' in Piazza di Siena on ''Sabà'', interrupting five years of dominion from French horsemen and gaining a strong popularity in Italy. The victory allowed him to participate to Berlin Olympics as a member of the Italian team. In 1937, with a team composed of count Alessandro Bettoni Cazaggo, Ranieri di Campello e Frassetto, won the “ Gran Premio delle Nazioni”, again in piazza di Siena. In 1939 he won again, as a member of a team composed of Bettoni, Filippini and Gutierrez. He fought during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a Cavalry lieutenant of Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria", and, with the rank of major, he was protagonist of the famous Izbushensky charge, the last cavalry charge of the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

.Clodomiro Tarsia, Salernitana, Olimpiadi e guerra Le tante vite di Gerardo Conforti. La città di Salerno
/ref> After the war, he became a director of the Italian committee of horsemanship, and he participated again in the 1948 Olympic games.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conforti, Gerardo 1903 births 1982 deaths Italian male equestrians Olympic equestrians for Italy Equestrians at the 1936 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 1948 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Salerno 20th-century Italian sportsmen