Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (; born 31 August 1947) is an Italian businessman, former Chairman of Ferrari, and formerly Chairman of Fiat S.p.A. and President of

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 ...

and FIEG. He comes from an aristocratic family from the region of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

in Italy. He graduated with a degree in law from

La Sapienza University The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

in 1971. Afterward, he studied for a master's degree in international commercial law at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He is one of the founders and former president of

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...

, an Italian company which is Europe's first private open access operator of 300 km/h (186 mph) high-speed trains. In 2009, Montezemolo founded Future Italy, a

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

that joined Civic Choice in the 2013 Italian parliamentary election.

Biography

Ancestry and family background

Born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

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 ...

, he is the youngest son of Massimo Cordero dei Marchesi di Montezemolo (1920–2009), a Piedmontese aristocrat whose family served the Royal House of Savoy for generations, and Clotilde Neri (1922-2017), niece of famed Italian surgeon Vincenzo Neri. His uncle, Admiral Giorgio Cordero dei Marchesi di Montezemolo (1918–1986) was a commander in the

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("M ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His grandfather, Mario (1888–1960) and great-grandfather Carlo (1858–1943) were both Generals in the Italian Army. He is also a relation to

Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (27 August 1925 – 19 November 2017) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic church. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1977 until he retired in 2001. As Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint ...

(his father Massimo and Andrea were cousins), who became a cardinal in 2006 and whose father, colonel Giuseppe Cordero di Montezemolo, was killed by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation troops during the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine in Rome in 1944. His surname is actually "Cordero di Montezemolo" and the correct usage is either the full surname or just Montezemolo (omitting the "di"); Marchesi is a noble title.

Career

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo - GianAngelo Pistoia

Montezemolo's sporting career began at the wheel of a

Giannini Giannini is a Brazilian musical instruments manufacturing company, based in Salto, São Paulo. Products currently manufactured by Giannini include electric guitar, electric, steel-string acoustic guitar, steel-string acoustic, classical guitar, ...

Fiat 500 which he raced together with his friend Cristiano Rattazzi. Later, Montezemolo briefly drove for the privately owned Lancia

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

team known as HF Squadra Corse. He joined the auto manufacturing conglomerate FIAT S.p.A., headquartered in Torino, Italy, and in 1973 was moved to Ferrari, where he became

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobil ...

's assistant and, in 1974, manager of the Scuderia. During his involvement with the team, Ferrari won the Formula One World Championship with

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

in 1975 and 1977. In 1976 Montezemolo was promoted to become head of all FIAT racing activities, and in 1977 he advanced to become a senior manager of FIAT. Throughout the 1980s, Montezemolo occupied a number of positions in the FIAT empire, including managing director of the drinks company

Cinzano Cinzano () is an Italian brand of vermouth, a brand owned since 1999 by Gruppo Campari. History Cinzano vermouths date back to 1757 and the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new "verm ...

and director of the publishing company Itedi. In 1982, he managed America's Cup challenge of Team Azzurra, the first Italian yacht club to enter the event. In 1985, he became manager of the Organizing Committee for 1990 World Cup Italia. In November 1991, FIAT Chairman

Gianni Agnelli Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce a ...

appointed Montezemolo president of Ferrari, which had been struggling since Enzo Ferrari's death. Montezemolo made it his personal goal to win the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

World Constructors' Championship once again. Montezemolo quickly made changes at the Italian team, signing up Niki Lauda as consultant and promoting Claudio Lombardi to team manager role. During the 1990s he resurrected the Ferrari road car business from heavy debts into solid profit. He also took on the presidency of Maserati when Ferrari acquired it in 1997, until 2005. Under Montezemolo and executive director

Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offi ...

, the Ferrari Formula One team won the World Drivers' Championship in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, the first time since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. The previous year,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, they had won the Constructors' Championship for the first time since

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

On 27 May 2004, Montezemolo became president of Italian business lobby

. Days later, following the death of

Umberto Agnelli Umberto Agnelli (; 1 November 1934 – 27 May 2004) was an Italian industrialist and politician. He was the third son of Virginia Agnelli (born Donna Virginia Bourbon del Monte) and of Edoardo Agnelli, and the youngest brother of Gianni Agnell ...

on 28 May, he was elected chairman of Fiat S.p.A., Ferrari's parent company. Since 20 December 2004, he has also been president of the LUISS, the Free International University for Social Studies Guido Carli in Rome. Montezemolo has often been reported to have aspirations of a career in Italian politics, most recently the office of Prime Minister, but has always denied the rumours. On 29 July 2008, Montezemolo founded the

Formula One Teams Association The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) was a group of Formula One teams that formed at a meeting in Maranello on 29 July 2008. The organisation was formed to give the teams a united voice in negotiations with the FIA and the Formula One Gro ...

(FOTA) which he presided over from 2008 to 2010, eventually being replaced by McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh. The Committee used to meet on a regular basis to discuss improvements to

. FOTA was formally dissolved in 2014. In April 2010,

John Elkann John Philip Jacob Elkann (born 1 April 1976) is an Italian industrialist. In 1997, he became the chosen heir of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, following the death of Gianni's nephew Giovanni Alberto Agnelli and since 2004 has been leading the A ...

replaced Montezemolo as Chairman of Fiat S.p.A. On 10 September 2014, Montezemolo resigned as president and chairman of Ferrari following increasing tension with his would-be successor, FIAT Chrysler CEO,

Sergio Marchionne Sergio Marchionne (; 17 June 1952 – 25 July 2018) was an Italian-Canadian businessman, widely known for his turnarounds of the automakers Fiat and Chrysler, his business acumen and his outspoken and often frank approach, especially when dealing ...

. On 26 November 2014, Montezemolo was appointed non-executive chairman of the Board of Directors of Italian flag carrier

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

. In February 2015 he became committee president of the

Rome bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics The Rome bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics was an attempt to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the city of Rome. On 21 September 2016, Rome withdrew its bid for the Games. Bid history The city hosted the 1960 Summer Olympic ...

. In July 2015, he was inducted into the

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum. It was founded in 1939 and has over 800 worldwide honorees. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. the Automotive Hall of Fame includes persons who have contributed greatly to a ...

. He received the ''America Award'' of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2017.

Personal life

In 2012 Montezemolo was issued a suspended sentence of one year imprisonment by the court in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

for the unauthorized construction of his personal residence in

Anacapri Anacapri () is a ''comune'' on the island of Capri, in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. Anacapri is located higher on the island than Capri (about higher on average)http://www.capritourism.com/imgg/download/capri_map_en.pdf —the Anc ...

, Italy.

Awards

References

* * *

External links

Luca de Montezemolo – Ferrari Chairman interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montezemolo, Luca Di Italian business executives Italian chairpersons of corporations Italian industrialists 1947 births Living people Businesspeople from Bologna People of Piedmontese descent Ferrari people Formula One people Fiat people Italian rally drivers Italian racing drivers International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees People named in the Panama Papers Presidents of Confindustria 20th-century Italian businesspeople 21st-century Italian businesspeople Italian motorsport people Automotive businesspeople Nobility from Bologna Sportspeople from Bologna