Giuseppe Volpi, 1st Count of
Misurata (19 November 1877 – 16 November 1947) was an Italian businessman and politician.
Count Volpi developed utilities, which had brought electricity to
Venice, northeastern
Italy and the
Balkans by 1903.[1] In 1911–1912, he acted as a negotiator in ending the
Italo-Turkish War.[2] He was the governor of the colony of
Tripolitania[3] from 1921 until 1925.
As the
Kingdom of Italy's
Minister of Finance from 1925 until 1928, Volpi successfully negotiated Italy's
World War I debt repayment with the United States[4] and with the United Kingdom,[5] pegged the value of the lira to the value of gold, and implemented free trade policies.[6] He was replaced in July 1928 by
Antonio Mosconi.[7]
Volpi also founded the
Venice Film Festival. His son is the former automobile racing manager and
Formula One team owner
Giovanni Volpi (B. 1938). His granddaughter via his daughter Countess Annamaria Volpi di Misurata was Countess
Marina Cicogna (1934-2023) who The New York Times described as "the first major female Italian film producer" and "one of the most powerful women in European cinema".[8]
Volpi was president of the
Confindustria from 1934 to 1943.[9] He was removed from this position and expelled from the
Grand Council of Fascism after he opposed the continuing of the war and Italy's alliance with
Hitler. He was arrested by the
SS after trying to escape to Switzerland.
Volpi who was a leading figure of the
National Fascist Party, underwent a series of legal proceedings for his responsibilities during the fascist regime after the war. His illness prevented him from appearing before the judges, but, thanks to the
Togliatti amnesty he was acquitted of all charges, after a life spent at the top of the Fascist Party.[10]
^Mario Guarino, I soldi dei vinti. La dolce vita della casta fascista e la fame per milioni di italiani. Documenti inediti sul Ventennio tra corruzione, ruberie e omicidi. L'elenco dei profittatori del regime, Cosenza, Pellegrini, 2008