Centenary of Gianni Agnelli.
Those who have had the good fortune to know him live cannot forget him.
In April 1974 Gianni Agnelli was elected president of Confindustria (the Italian employers' federation). At that time the writer was assistant to Luigi Orlando, president of the Italian Metallurgical Society, better known as 'The King of Copper', Orlando was vice-president over all of Confindustria. The assistants of the three 'noble' fathers of Italian industry (Pirelli, Agnelli and Orlando) were allowed to stay in the second row behind their bosses who sat around the large oval table of the boardroom.
The meetings of the highest body of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs were characterized by the monologues of small and medium-sized industrialists who, galvanized by the possibility of having those characters as interlocutors, intertwined often boring and inappropriate interventions.
Agnelli, half-undreamed in the armchair, eyes closed, every now and then a strong pull from his nose, listened without expressing annoyance. The only moments of attention were addressed when the young Carlo De Benedetti took the floor revealing a wide-ranging financial preparation. When the debate went on, Agnelli took the floor. In a few seconds he summed up his point of view, on which the unanimity of the decision was then celebrated. Not because it was Agnelli's position, but because it was the most enlightening proposal in the whole debate.
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Agnelli, when he arrived in Rome on his plane, wanted to personally drive the car. Once, going with the general manager of Confindustria, Mattei, to the airport for a commitment on Milan, the president of Fiat who loved to drive like crazy, having fun preceding the police escort, arrived at the entrance of Ciampino Airport to all beer with his 131 Sport. The soldier on guard did not have time to lift the bar. Violent shock, bar gone into a thousand pieces and the 'Lawyer' and his general manager board the Fiat plane. At the end of the day they return to Rome. Meanwhile, Fiat officials in Rome had tried to replace the car that had sned. "Do you see, dear Mattei, the quality of Fiat cars?" said the lawyer with an impenetrable smile.
The first time Berlusconi joined the Confindustria Junta, the parliaments of entrepreneurs, he desperately tried to be noticed by Agnelli, Pirelli and Orlando who purposely avoided him.
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At the end of 1985 Prodi , president of IRI, and Fabiani, CEO of Finmeccanica, were returning by private plane from London where they had signed a letter of intent with Ford's vice-president for the sale of the disaster-hit Alfa Romeo. While in the air, the agencies began to beat statements by politicians of the constitutional arc, trade unionists, economists, entrepreneurs who sided against the sale of the car company to the hated foreigner. Mr Prodi was forced to delete the letter of intent with a relatively bad impression on the American interlocutor. The Alfa went to Fiat who pretended to pay something. Months later the British weekly Econmist organized a conference at the Grand Hotel in Rome. Meeting in the hotel lobby, Agnelli told Romano Prodi, "You're what cost me the most." And the Professor's answer was, "I gave you 164 (a beautiful Alfa big car). Didn't you want to pay for it?" In fact, the 164 later became the flagship of FIAT, which had no experience in the production of prestige cars.
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In the glass palace of the Confindustria there was an elevator dedicated only to the presidency and which could also be used by the assistants of the Vice-Presidents.
One morning as soon as I entered the elevator I saw Gianni Agnelli swoop in and he was in a hurry. "Dear Bartoli, "come sta" (Agnelli had introduced into the Italian current language the counterpart of the "how are you doing?" (which in English means zero interest on the part of those who use the formula).
Suddenly the cabin stopped midway down the fifth floor. "Try pushing a few buttons," the 'Lawyer' told me. I tried, but at the same time fate wanted the lenses of my glasses to come out of the frame, I don't know why, and fall to the ground. A few moments and the doors of the elevator stuck on half a floor opened and appeared a couple of reeds of machine guns obviously addressed to me that was then recovered after the Agnelli when they finally operated the manual ascent of the damn elevator.
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Loved and hated in a visceral way by millions of Italians, Gianni Agnelli established himself for the charm that derived from a solid education and an inimitable style. And even the fact that he was a play boy gave him a touch of aristocrat far removed from certain behaviors of enriched sharks entrepreneurs.
You can judge his work as an entrepreneur in a negative way, but the fact remains that Agnelli was a symbol abroad of a great Italian style and certainly did not arouse hilarity among the powerful of the moment who aspired to his company.
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To top it off:
One morning I go to the bathroom on the sixth floor of the Confindustria building. As I start at the sink, the Lawyer comes out of a toilet, sees me, greets me, gives me his hand and leaves without washing. And I am reminded of the story of De Amicis book 'Cuore' and the man who shook hands with the King. "Here, little one, that I still warm my hand! - and passed his hand round his face, saying: - This is a caress of the king."
But I spared my children.
Oscar
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