Susanna Agnelli. Between Family Business and Politics

Without being exhaustive, the present research aims to profile a multifaceted protagonist of the Italian 20th century: Susanna Agnelli. She was born in 1922 in Turin—a city strongly tied to the Agnelli dynasty—, by Edoardo Agnelli and Virginia Bourbon del Monte. During her long life, thanks also to the intense relationship with her brother Gianni, she experienced the crucial phases of the consecration of FIAT and the period of changes occurred in the Italian socio-economic framework. However, linking Susanna Agnelli’s name only to the dynamics of the family business would be restrictive: in fact, in addition to have been a fruitful and original writer—among her works we remember, for example, Vesti vamo alla marinara [We Always Wore Sailor Suits] and Addio, addio mio ultimo amore [Farewell, Farewell My Last Love]—, she was, between the 70s and the 90s, an important representative of the Italian Republican Party, among whose ranks she worked with various relevant positions as a deputy, MEP—the IRP was part of the Liberal and Democratic Group—and as a senator. Her political experience has been successful and complete as she passed, over the years, from the role of mayor of Monte Argentario—a small Tuscan town in the province of Grosseto—to that of Foreign Minister in the Dini government, between 1995 and 1996. She was the first woman to hold this prestigious office. The name of Susanna Agnelli is also linked to philanthropic activities—first of all the participation, at only 18 years old, as a Red Cross volunteer in the Second World War and the presidency of Telethon—that, firsthand, she carried on until her death, which took place in Rome in May 2009.