An Italian tale

Creativity comes with life experience and having an intense life increases this skill. This statement fits perfectly with the story of a man born in Florence, Italy in 1936 called Giovanni Bruzzi.

Giovanni Bruzzi started painting at the age of 10 in the studio of Rodolfo Margheri who later came to be Bruzzi s professor at Accademia Belle Arti di Firenze. In 1954 he went to Paris for further studies and in 1960 he moved there and stayed for four years. During these years he made the acquaintance of remarkable characters such as the drummer Kenny Clarke which used to play at “Blue Note” with legendary pianist Bud Powell, the great poet André Breton and the photographer of Montparnasse Marc Vaux.

While living in Paris, Bruzzi came to realize that being an emergeing artist does not necessarily give you a solid economic base. So he started working as a “faux-client” in some night-clubs at Pigalle and as a lookout in a gang of greek people performing the game of the three cards in the subway. After a while he got tired of this life and went back to Florence where he started to work in “five stars” gambling tables for the boss Renis. In this field of work he met Joe Adonis, one of the maximum exponents of Cosa Nostra working in close contact with Lucky Luciano.

Giovanni Bruzzi nowadays is one of the most well-known experts in card games, he also works as a consultant for the Pupi Avati movies Regalo di Natale and La Rivincita di Natale giving his precious technical advice in regards to the poker scenes.
Also, he has been protagonist-guest in several tv shows, since ariving at a cult figure status.
His art has been exposed in more than 100 exhibitions in United Sates, Italy, and Paris.
In 1989 he designed a commemorative pack of cards for the French Revolution. The pack of cards is exhibited in the area of “Les cartes de la Révolution” at the Musée Français de la Carte à jouer, in Paris.

On the 2nd of June 2006 Giovanni Bruzzi has been named an Official Knight of the Italian Republic for his artistic merits.

This is the story of Giovanni Bruzzi, a person that for his life experience must be considered a living library. Witness of the charmin environment of the ’60′s that involve gambling, frenetic and risky life style, beautiful women, easy money, but also deep friendships and values. This is his tale, an Italian tale.

Giovanni Bruzzi website