Cesare Benedetti

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

Football Benedetti played for three seasons (37 games, 1 goal) in the Serie A for Roma and Salernitana, winning the Serie A in the 1940–41 season with Roma.

Painting 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").