Cesare Benedetti (footballer, born October 1920)

Cesare Benedetti
Personal information
Date of birth	24 October 1920
Place of birth	Treviso, Italy
Date of death	9 July 2002 (aged 81)
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
1937–1941	Treviso
1941–1943	Roma
1943–1945	Treviso
1945–1946	Roma
1946–1948	Salernitana
1948–1949	Treviso
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Cesare Benedetti (24 October 1920 – 9 July 2002) was an Italian football player and a painter.

Football[edit]

He played for 3 seasons (37 games, 1 goal) in the Serie A for A.S. Roma and Salernitana Calcio 1919, winning the Serie A in the 1940/41 season with Roma.

After retirement as a footballer, he became a noted painter. He was accepted at the House of Grimaldi, painting portraits of Grace Kelly, Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, Caroline, Princess of Hanover and other dignitaries. He painted in the United States as well (including the portrait of Caroline Kennedy at 4 years of age). He also painted portraits of several Popes, including Pope John XXIII, Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI and a two-meters-high portrait of Pope John Paul II that hangs in the hall of the Treviso Cathedral, earning himself the nickname "Painter of Popes" ("pittore dei Papi").