Donato Martucci

Donato Martucci was an Italian diplomat, writer and sports director. Born in Napoli in 1916, he was able to read and write many languages and preferentially wrote literature over journalism. A scholar of Plato, he developed many varied interests ranging from Greek classics to nineteenth-century art.

The son of a railway worker, Martucci played water polo as a youngster at Rari Nantes, Napoli, with champions such as Bulgarelli and Arena. After graduating in law, Martucci joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and during World War II was sent to neutral Lisboa with the task of monitoring the movements of British intelligence and reporting to Roma any news of great national interest and secrecy. After the 1943 Armistice, Martucci boarded a troop ship and returned to Italy where he continued his work collaborating with Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza; however, following a newspaper article about Martucci that did not please the minister, he was forced to look for a new job.

The turning point in his life and career came after a chance meeting in Milano with Giulio Onesti, president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), who did not have to work hard to convince Martucci to abandon his job as a diplomat for a job with CONI. Originally he worked as Onesti’s secretary, before taking charge of the press office. He followed all editions of the Olympic Games from 1948 to 1980, although he refused to go to Moskva.

After leaving CONI at the age of 65 in January 1981, Martucci continued to work for some time, at the Italian Rowing Federation. He died in Roma in September 2000, and was the last survivor of the triad of people who saw Italian sport develop in the post-war period until reaching its pinnacle with the 1960 Roma Olympics.

A profound lover of the Italian language, Martucci wrote several volumes on socio-philosophical subjects, a couple of which were Non votò la famiglia De Paolis and Lo strano settembre 1950, both published in 1948) and written with Ranieri di Sorbello (1906-69). Among Martucci’s other books are Lo Sport in Italia (1955), Il pane e il resto (1967), and L’affare Zero (1990). For more than 30 years, through his role in the press office, he was responsible for all publications, documents and press releases from the CONI headquarters. In his role as Foreign Minister of the Italian Olympic Committee, he had made contacts previously unthinkable, and made contacts with senior officials ranging from the Soviet Union in 1961 to Mao’s China in 1967, and to the military in Mexico in 1968, where he risked being deported for denouncing the events of the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.