Agnelli biography
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Gianni Agnelli
Italian businessman (–)
Giovanni "Gianni" AgnelliCavaliere di Gran Croce OMRIOMLOMCACGVMCMG (Italian:[ˈdʒanniaɲˈɲɛlli]; 12 March &#;&#; 24 January ), nicknamed L'Avvocato ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled % of Italy's GDP, % of its industrial workforce, and % of its industrial investment in research. He was the richest man in modern Italian history.[1]
Agnelli was regarded as having an impeccable and slightly eccentric fashion sense,[2] which has influenced both Italian and international men's fashion. Agnelli was awarded the decoration Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in and the Order of Merit for Labour (Cavaliere del lavoro) in [3] Following his death in , control of the firm was gradually passed to his grandson and chosen heir, John Elkann.[1]
Early life
[edit]Agnelli was born in T
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Giovanni Agnelli (–)
Giovanni Agnelli inherited control of Italy’s largest motor manufacturing company at the age of 45 in , and over the next 30 years built it up into a powerful international concern. He was the grandson of Giovanni Agnelli (), who was born at Villar Perosa near Turin in Piedmont, who in was one of the founders of Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino, usually abbreviated to FIAT. He became managing director of the company when its first plant opened the following year, during which 35 dock produced 24 cars. Within six years Fiat was making more than a thousand cars a year. The younger Giovanni was the son of Edoardo Agnelli () who died in a seaplane accident.
Giovanni Agnelli did military service in Russia and North Africa during the Second World War after which Fiat was managed by Vittorio Valletta (). He inherited control of Fiat and the family assets in Known as ‘Gianni’ or L’Avvocato’ he combined business intelligence with a liking for the playboy lifestyl
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The life and legacy of Gianni Agnelli, 22 years after his death
It usually starts with the watch. Which is a bit like saying: “for Jesus, it begins with the sandals” — a little reductive, perhaps sacrilegious, wilfully ignoring the halo or the thorns. But Gianni Agnelli’s watch — or, more correctly, how he wore the watch — has long been the lure that pulls us into the myth. It’s the sparkling, pretty fishing fly, bobbing gently on the surface of some calm Lombardy lake, which immediately drags you down into a whirling vortex of Italian sports cars, slicked-back silver hair, mid-century boardrooms and exquisite manners.
An alligator-strapped, pale-faced day watch, fastened sturdily to the outside of a powder-blue French cuff. You see what you want in it. A tycoon too busy even to lift his sleeve to check the time. A careful flourish of Italian sprezzatura. An innovation, an inside joke. Graydon Carter, the former Vanity Fair editor who made a documentary for HBO titled simply