From left to right: Fulvio De Persio, Francesco Conte, Luca Pardini, Luca Pazzaglia, Giuseppe Salerno. Front row, left to right: Alex Lebedev, Matteo Anfossi. Among the top players in the Italian Diplomacy today are: Matteo Anfossi: Winner of CISD ((Campionato Italo-Sammarinese 2013, Italo-Sammarinese Championship 2013), a very quiet man, with a good ability to make alliances, a simple and direct effective way of play. Also known to be a top Russian player. Giovanni Cesarini: One of the founders of AID (Associazione Italiana Diplomacy, Italian Diplomacy Association) with a ton of experience and a very good tactician. One weakness: he sometimes tends to get too upset if you do not follow his plan. Davide Cleopatre: For the Italian and European players that know him, David is the “best Italian player.” Ironically of course, but sometimes it is true, Davide is also known for his strong defensive play right down to his last center. Alex Lebedev: Perhaps our top European level player, Alex is known throughout Europe as our most “international” player. Skilled in every aspect of the game: strategy, tactics, and diplomacy, he is known to be a good stabber but he prefers to find an alliance in which he is always one or two centers up on his allies, but he never forgets that the purpose of any alliance is to win. It is always a pleasure to play with or against him. Luca Pazzaglia: Luca is the most successful Italian player (Three times CISD champion) and EDC (European Diplomacy Champion) in 2008. Is a pleasure to negotiate with him, but perhaps a little less so when you realize that everything is aimed to wipe you from the table. Marco Ferrari: The oldest of the Italian players in longevity, full of international experience and player in a lot of European tournaments, he has also won a lot in Italy. He’s only missing a great international victory. Maybe this EDC will be his chance? Fulvio De Persio: One of the organizers of the EDC 2014 in Rome. His diplomacy is good and tends to create strong collaborations between players. His main point is to have a perfect time to stab or change direction during the game. Some time he plays only for fun and loves risky plans or unclear tactics. Giuseppe Salerno: Perhaps the most promising rising star in the new generation of Diplomacy players. Giuseppe his good negotiating skills, is a very good tactician, and plays well consistently at any tournament In the last 3 years he has come close to winning the Italian championship, but misses it by a few points. He also aims to find his first win in an international event. Maybe this year he can win both CISD and EDC? There are also a lot of good Italian players in the EDC 2014, just like Curzio Faccoetti ( Italian Champion 2012), Francesco Conte (a very skilled player and well known by the other European players), organizer of the first 3 tournaments of Rome with Fulvio and Fabrizio), Filippo Lonardo our true diplomat (now in Canada at Montreal) and organizer of EDC 2014, Daniele Belardinelli and Andrea Rosati, two sharks on the board game. They are both capable of making only one match in an Italian tournament step and then finish it with 13-14 center in 1907.Not to be overlooked are Leonardo Quirini, a very experienced player; and I need to mention Fabrizio Mattei, he is the core of the postal (now e-postal^^) diplomacy in Italy, 30 years as an experienced player , the last of the organizers of EDC 2014 in Rome, without his input in 2008, Rome tournament would never had started. Fulvio De Perso c/o The Editor (editor@diplom.org) If you wish to e-mail feedback on this article to the author, and clicking on the envelope above does not work for you, feel free to use the "Dear DP..." mail interface.