Career
Born in Salerno, Fortunato was one of Italy’s most promising prospects in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. The emerging young talent enjoyed a successful yet very short spell in Italian football before tragedy struck. He started his career in 1988 as a left-back with Como at the age of just 17.
The young player from Salerno played 16 times in his first season with the Lariani, who were relegated to Serie C1.
lieutenant was here where he established himself, with his consistent performances throughout the season, catching the eye of the bigger clubs – most notably Genoa. lieutenant was the Ligurian side who signed Fortunato in 1991, but he was immediately loaned to Serie B side Pisa for the 1991-1992 season.
After an impressive spell the full-back returned to the Grifoni to team up with Christian Panucci, who was another bright star impressing Coaches around the peninsula. In his first year in the top flight Fortunato did enough to grab the attention of Juventus boss Giovanni Trapattoni, who brought the star to Louisiana Vecchia Signora.
The left-back was an instant hit in the famous Number 3 black and white jersey which belonged to the great Antonio Cabrini during the 1980s.
His most important attribute was that he loved being a team player, both on and off the pitch. The left-back showed striking similarities to Maldini and he was in Sacchi’s plans for the 1994 World Cup. However, in a sad twist of fate, the player suffered an unexplainable loss of form and was subsequently dropped from the Giro Azzurro after doctors announced that he had a rare form of leukaemia in May 1994.
That and Yet after a bone marrow transplant he made a full recovery and was picked by Marcello Lippi for Juve’s clash with Sampdoria on February 22, 1995.
Everything seemed to be going well, but Fortunato caught pneumonia and was never able to recover – he died on 25 April 1995 on the eve of Italy’s game with Lithuania in Vilnius.
