Frari (Venice) nave left - Tombe of Giuseppe Volpi

Giuseppe Volpi, 1st Count of

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

(19 November 1877 – 16 November 1947) was an Italian businessman and politician. Count Volpi developed utilities which brought electricity to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, northeast

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

by 1903. In 1911–1912, he acted as a negotiator in ending the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

. He was the governor of the colony of

Tripolitania Tripolitania ( ar, طرابلس '; ber, Ṭrables, script=Latn; from Vulgar Latin: , from la, Regio Tripolitana, from grc-gre, Τριπολιτάνια), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province o ...

from 1921 until 1925. As the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

from 1925 until 1928, Volpi successfully negotiated Italy's

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

debt repayment with the United States and with the United Kingdom, pegged the value of the lira to the value of gold, and implemented free trade policies. He was replaced in July 1928 by

Antonio Mosconi Antonio Mosconi (9 September 1866–12 July 1955) was an Italian businessman and politician who held various political and government posts, including the finance minister between July 1928 and July 1932. Biography Hailed from a family based in ...

. Volpi also founded the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

. His son was automobile racing manager Giovanni Volpi. His grand daughter is Countess Maria Cicogna, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' describes her as "the first major female Italian film producer" and "one of the most powerful women in European cinema". Volpi was president of the

Confindustria The General Confederation of Italian Industry ( it, Confederazione generale dell'industria italiana), commonly known as Confindustria, is the Italian employers' federation and national chamber of commerce, founded in 1910. It groups together mor ...

from 1934 to 1943. 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 Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. He was arrested by the SS after trying to escape to Switzerland. Volpi who was a leading figure of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

, 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 The Togliatti amnesty ( it, Amnistia Togliatti) was an amnesty declared in Italy on 22 June 1946. Named after the then-Italian Minister of Justice, Italian Communist Party member Palmiro Togliatti, it pardoned and reduced sentences for Italian fas ...

he was acquitted of all charges, after a life spent at the top of the Fascist Party.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

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Volpi, Giuseppe 1877 births 1947 deaths Counts of Italy Italian nobility People of former Italian colonies Mussolini Cabinet Finance ministers of Italy Businesspeople from Venice Politicians from Venice Film festival founders Italian people of the Italo-Turkish War Presidents of Confindustria Italian colonial governors and administrators National Fascist Party politicians 19th-century Italian businesspeople

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