Full name Danilo Martelli Role Footballer Name Danilo Martelli | Place of death Superga, Italy Position Inside forward | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1927-05-27)27 May 1927 Date of death 4 May 1949(1949-05-04) (aged 21) Playing position Died May 4, 1949, Basilica of Superga, Turin, Italy | ||
Place of birth Castellucchio, Italy | ||
Danilo Martelli (27 May 1927 – 4 May 1949) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He died along with his teammates and Torino officials in the Superga air disaster.
Contents
Club career
He began his career with Marzotto Manerbio in Serie C, in the 1940–41 season; then moved to Brescia which competed in Serie B for two seasons, demonstrating a propensity for scoring. In 1943 the Rondinelle won promotion to the top flight of Italian football, but could only play at the end of the Second World War, in the first post-war championship, in two regional groups. Brescia won fourth place in the group of Northern Italy, then lost a tie with A.C. Milan for the final round. However Martelli came to the fore and was noticed by executives of Torino, with whom he signed in 1946.
With 72 appearances and 10 goals, he contributed to the conquest of three Serie A titles of the Grande Torino in 1947, 1948, 1949. Valentino Mazzola advised him always to be "meaner".
He was the centre of a curious fact: the Bull needed to sell a player to reassess their finances and thought of selling Martelli, a rising star that interested many teams. His friends organised a kind of fundraiser to get half the amount other teams would pay for him, for Danilo to remain at Torino.
Along with Valerio Bacigalupo and Mario Rigamonti he was part of the infamous Trio Nizza, three players of the Grande Torino who lived together in a small apartment in Via Nizza in Turin.
Martelli was buried at the cemetery of his native region, Castellucchio.
Legacy
The stadium of Mantua was renamed after him after the Superga air disaster.
Later, two football teams of the province of Cremona (Piadena) and Mantua (Castellucchio), were founded or changed their name to remember his football career: the G.S. Danilo Martelli of Piadena because when he came from Castellucchio he took the train to Brescia and down to Piadena, where he had many friends and former teammates with whom he played several tournaments during the summer; the US Danilo Martelli of Castellucchio, his hometown.
Style of play
He was a halfback who played as full-back on either flank.