On March 12, 1921,
Gianni Agnelli
, president of Fiat and Juventus, a symbol of Italian capitalism, was born.
He would therefore have turned 100 today.
The grandson John Elkann, appointed by the lawyer to lead the family empire when he was only 21 years old, in a recent interview recalled, among other qualities, the foresight of Gianni Agnelli: "My grandfather understood the future of the car" .
"The last gentleman of Italy" for the Stern magazine.
King of Italy without a crown in the collective imagination.
Icon of style and elegance, passionate fan of Juventus and Ferrari, patron of the arts, senator for life.
A law graduate, he never practiced law, but he was the most famous lawyer in Italy.
"They made an investigation: ninety-nine out of a hundred citizens know who the Pope is, everyone knows Gianni", says Enzo Biagi in the book Il signor Fiat.
Agnelli is the man that women like and enchants the powerful, the symbol of an elite with the r's and the watch on the cuff.
Sought after by reporters and commentators for his lightning and ironic jokes.
A cosmopolitan profile for its international relations, but also deeply Italian.
When he died on January 24, 2003, thousands of people greeted him, moved.
There will be no events to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of his birth because Covid does not allow it, but his figure is remembered on newspapers, TV and social media.
The Ministry of Economic Development will issue a commemorative stamp.
Elkann chose La Stampa days ago to evoke the figure of his grandfather.
"He sensed and said before the others that six or seven major global players would remain in the automotive world. Today, with Stellantis, we are one of these players. It is an important milestone, but it is a starting point, not an arrival point", explains in an interview signed by Massimo Giannini.
Football was a great love for his grandfather: president of the Juventus club from 1947 to 1954, he held the position of honorary president and was always close to the team.
"He would have been proud and happy - observes Elkann - to have lived the last decade: 9 consecutive league titles, almost double the 5 he lived as a child in the 1930s. He would have married the courageous choice of my cousin Andrea: after a decade like this full of great successes, focus on a coach and a young team to build the future ".
The biography of the lawyer is one with the history of Italy.
The lawyer is named after his grandfather Giovanni, senator and founder of Fiat.
His father Edoardo, the only male heir, disappeared in 1935 due to a plane crash when Gianni was still a teenager.
At the button room he arrived in 1966 after the years of the 'dolce vita', in the world of the international jet set, between the Côte d'Azur, Saint Moritz and New York.
The economic miracle is over, it is a difficult time marked by social tensions, the hot autumn.
Agnelli stands out for his ability to mediate between the social partners and, precisely his balance, led him from 1974 to 1976 to the presidency of Confindustria.
Then the crisis and the trade union confrontation of the late 1970s, Gaddafi's agreement with Libya, terrorism.
In the 80s the relaunch of the company flanked by Cesare Romiti to whom he will leave the presidency.
His successes as an entrepreneur are accompanied by private tragedies, the suicide of his son Edoardo and the premature death of his nephew Giovannino.
There is a constant in his biography: the desire to safeguard Fiat's main industrial activity, the automobile, inherited from his grandfather.
This is demonstrated by two projects that will not go through: the agreement with Ford in 1985 and the alliance with General Motors in March 2000. When Agnelli dies, the crisis rages and many are wondering what his fate is.
Many bet on the group's exit from the car.
Today the birth of Stellantis seems to remove all doubts.
