Vittorio Orlandi

Vittorio Orlandi was one of the best Italian show jumpers of the 1970s. He started riding at the age of nine on his own horse Maremmano, and took part in his first senior competition at the age of 17. He went on to become part of Italy’s great revival in the sport in the 70s with the D’Inzeo brothers, Raimondo and Piero, and Graziano Mancinelli. Orlandi won the 1969 Italian championsip, but the highlight of his career came in 1972 when, along with the D’Inzeo brothers and Mancinelli, he won a bronze medal as part of the Italian team at the München Olympics. He was the best of the four Italian riders after two excellent rounds.

After the retirement, Orlandi dedicated his life to promoting show jumping in Italy and, in 1984-85 was technical director of the Italian show jumping team. He was also a horse breeder for some of the big names in the sport, and at the 1998 World Championships in Roma, the Olympic champion Rodrigo Pessoa won the title with an Orlandi-bred horse Gandini Lianos.

Orlandi was president of FISE (Italian Federation of Equestrian Sport) from 2015-17, and in 2017 founded the Vittorio Orlandi Foundation to aid, primarily, talented young riders.