Agnelli (2017) - full transcript

Yesterday, Mr. Agnelli,
you said in a speech

that there could
no longer be any doubt

that Italy's system
is on the edge of collapse.

What is going to happen
to you if Italy does collapse?

Well, this is a very
difficult question to answer.

When you say collapse, I think,
"What would happen to me

if Italy is taken over
by the Communists,

if Italy becomes like
a country of Eastern Europe?"

I mean, if whatever we call
a Eurocommunist

means that even Italy
is going to be an Eurocountry

like all the Eastern European
countries are,



I don't think I would like to live in
Italy under those circumstances.

- One thing...
- But I would try to fight as much as I can

for those circumstances
not to happen.

I always said
it was dangerous

to think anything
in his presence...

because he'd pick it up.

He had
an unusual ability

to understand

the vibrations of events.

If you are not an Italian,
to understand

what Gianni Agnelli
was for Italy,

you must go back
to the early '50s.

After the war,
Italy was nearly destroyed.

No bridges, no factories,
huge unemployment.



People were
really in poor shape.

Dying young
because of no medical care.

Then something
happened abruptly.

Was this called
"miracolo economico,"

the economical miracle.

Suddenly, there was
an economic boom

and lots of industries
and companies sprang up,

and there was a real energy
to rebuild.

Italy became
one of the largest

industrialized countries
in the world.

The industrial comeback
of Italy is FIAT.

And it changed Italy
completely.

In the '50s, a lot of people
came to Northern Italy.

The factories were growing
like mushrooms...

By the thousands...
Really, by the thousands.

So, the people, they got
cash salary, pension,

medical care, and the FIAT
medical care was very good,

school for the children.

FIAT housing,
FIAT holiday camps,

FIAT kindergartens,
FIAT sports fields.

And finally, they got a car.

FIAT put the whole of Italy
on four wheels.

So, all of these
was embodied

in the mind of the Italians

with the Agnelli family
and particularly with Gianni.

He was involved with
everything Italians loved...

Sex, cars, and sports.

He had
soccer with Juventus.

He had Ferrari with cars.

You couldn't really miss
Gianni Agnelli.

People would think
that they invented him.

Every woman
was in love with him.

Every man wanted
to be him.

He had been a playboy
when he was young,

but no decent Italian is going
to be dismayed by that.

He was a man of ideas.

He became,
for many Italians,

the symbol
of what Italy could do,

the symbol
of the Italian renaissance.

Gianni's grandfather
was Senatore Agnelli,

who was the founder
of FIAT.

Quite early on, he understood
that mass production

was the future
of the car industry.

And he was greatly inspired
by American car companies.

He was a very cunning man.

Quite ruthless.

The Italian rubber baron.

FIAT grew and expanded

into trucking,
airplanes, trains.

It became the pillar

of Italian industry.

Gianni was raised
in Torino.

He had four sisters
and two brothers.

Mrs. Constance Parker
was the English nanny.

We always had to walk
with Ms. Parker in Turin.

Side by side, she took us
walking every day

for one hour at least.

Cold, snow, wind.

You have to behave
especially well

because you're an Agnelli.

But Gianni was very naughty
as a child.

Full of mischief.

He was breaking all my toys
and that sort of thing.

I didn't like it so much.

You know,
he liked to tease.

He was a great joker
all his life.

He teased all of us.
We had long hair.

He pulled it every time
he passed next to us.

But he was really nice
apart from that.

He was very charming
and very attractive.

Girls. Cars and girls.

That was definitely for him.

His mother,
Virginia Bourbon del Monte,

was extravagant,
eccentric.

She had a leopard
as a pet.

It was, I would say,

the... a crazier part
of the family.

She was quite promiscuous.

For a woman at her time,
that was very unusual.

It scandalized
European society.

Gianni's father, Edoardo,
was very interested in the arts.

He loved the theater.
He loved literature.

He was in his early 40s,
and he had flown

to Forte dei Marmi
on a seaplane.

He had just taken off
his seatbelt.

It hit a log and capsized,

and Edoardo was decapitated
by the propeller of the plane.

The senatore had to go to
the morgue and identify his son.

He was devastated.

He left seven children behind
and a very young wife.

Gianni was the eldest
and he had to cope with it.

He had to build
himself an armor.

His grandfather
sort of adopted him

and was the most important
figure in his life.

He trained Gianni
to run FIAT

and put the structure
in place

to hand the company over
to Gianni as the sole heir.

Gianni went to America
for the first time in '38.

He was shocked
at how modern the US was

and how far behind
Italy was.

The Ford plant in Detroit
is a village unto itself

with its big blast furnaces
and smokestacks.

At the time,
America was

undisputedly the number one
in the world

in terms of industry,
military might,

in all respects, and it made
a very big impression.

He thought that New York was
the coolest town in the world.

He loved America.

I mean, he told me, "I'm
pro-America down to my belt."

Gianni went into war.

He felt this was a duty.

He had to be loyal
to the king

and loyal to the idea
of the Italian state.

But there was a feeling
that this was a mistake.

My grandfather
tried to stop him,

but Gianni said,
"No, it's war

and I prefer going
against the Russians."

He was a cavalry officer,
which was quite brilliant.

He rationalized an Agnelli
should be brave at war,

and he was a brave man.

He said it was
a very sad experience.

"A lot of my soldiers
that I fought with died.

I really don't want
to remember this."

He didn't have a war
sitting in some salon,

being elegant
in a good uniform.

I mean, he had a war.

But now, the people of Naples,

seeing the British
and American forces coming in,

well, they pretty well
went mad.

Christmas 1945.

Well, that was
a very sad Christmas.

And we were all staying
in Turin in this house.

The house was half bombed.

And my mother died
in a car accident.

We were all
very, very distressed.

At the end of the war,
Gianni's grandfather

was accused of being
a collaborator.

That was very insulting
and also untrue.

My grandfather
was still alive,

and I must say,
he was treated very badly

by the new anti-fascists,

il Comitato di Liberazione
Nazionale.

They decided my grandfather
had to go away from FIAT.

It was a great sadness
for him.

The grandfather couldn't work
in his company after the war

and he died of sorrow
because of that.

He used to go with his car
and go there and look

and say, "Why don't they want
me? Why don't they want me?"

Because he had given
all his life to FIAT.

Before the senatore died,

he was actually exonerated

of being a collaborator
with the fascists.

But by then
he was a broken man.

He died without ever
returning to the factory.

My grandfather's funeral,

we tried to see
if we could stop

in front of FIAT Works.

And they said no.

For this man who had played
such a big role

in Italian capitalism,

that his funeral would be
ignored by most people?

That was very painful,

certainly for Gianni,
who felt very responsible

for his name
and his reputation.

The grandfather
had died in disgrace,

the factory
had been bombed,

and Gianni does describe
his concern

at seeing the sea of red
flags at public demonstrations.

He was a very worried man.

The Allies were going
to confiscate FIAT.

But the Americans
were quite worried

about the increasing
Communist influence in Europe.

And Gianni made the case
that FIAT could help with that.

Through his charm

and his very good English,

Gianni played a big role
in saving FIAT.

He was able to say
to the Americans,

"FIAT is Italian,
is Turinese.

We want to keep it here."

After the war had ended
and it was clear

that the Agnellis
would retain control of FIAT,

there was a moment... so,
who is actually going to run it?

Vittorio Valletta
was one of these people

who really lived
for the company.

Gianni was very wise
in recognizing

that Valletta should be
chairman of FIAT.

Valletta saw Gianni
as the prince whom you serve.

But he rightly knew
that at that stage,

Gianni could not
have run FIAT.

He had a sort of group
of friends

that had fought in the war
that felt the despair,

that felt the only things was... left for
them in life was to amuse themself,

go with women, drinking,
have cars and all of that.

And the beginning of after-the-war
attitude of Gianni was that.

Valletta told Gianni,
"Have a good time for a while.

Then when the moment arrives,
I'll give FIAT to you."

Gianni did have a good time.

That, I must say.

The South of France was abuzz
with Gianni's arrival.

The South of France
was extremely carefree.

Very loose,
if that makes any sense.

You had everybody
from Somerset Maugham

to Elsa Maxwell
and Rainier and Grace.

Ari Onassis
on his yacht.

It was the great, big
private house party.

When I met Gianni the first
time, I was very young.

I was on the tennis circuit,
but I wasn't doing very well.

And I went to the South
of France to take a break.

And I was awed by Gianni's
charisma and all his charm.

The easy manner,
the friendliness

instead of being stuck up
or something like that.

I was in Europe
modeling for Chanel.

I met Gianni
through Onassis.

He was on cocaine, stoned,
and I didn't even know it.

And he was just
coming on to me like crazy.

And he was very handsome.

And so, we went off
to his house

and that's where
we hung out that night.

Gianni was irresistible.

It was not possible
not to be seduced by him.

Not possible.

Gianni was in full fling,

surrounding himself
with starlets.

There are three things
I like most...

Love, love, and love.

Anita Ekberg
was fun, crazy.

She was crazy about Gianni.

I was out with
this interior decorator.

He said, "Let's go to
Gianni Agnelli's at the Grand.

I know
he's with Anita Ekberg."

I said, "Oh, wonderful."

So we go to the hotel,

and Gianni never
locked the door.

The light is very low

and the music is playing,

and there's Gianni in bed
with Anita Ekberg.

And so,
we start laughing,

we put the lights on,
and she started chasing us

down the hall stark naked
with these huge bosoms.

The next morning,
Gianni called me and said,

"Oh, I thought
it was wonderful!"

He always said that ladies
should be treated like tarts

and tarts should be
treated like ladies.

Would a contemporary woman
find him horrifying?

- Oh, I don't think so.
- All right.

Well, the people...
What's wrong

is there's nobody around
like him anymore.

That's the great problem.

Because they're so involved
with making money,

they're boring as hell.

So, what do they bring
to the table?

I mean, Gianni was funny
and exciting.

He was incredibly alive,
you see.

But I wasn't looking to have
a romance with Gianni Agnelli.

I thought he was insane.

One of Gianni's
favorite things

was to jump
out of a helicopter

into the Mediterranean Sea.

That's, like, how he
would start his weekend.

When I was a little,
little kid, I remember him.

He arrived at this hotel,
Hotel du Cap,

and he had his helicopter.

And he jumped
out of the helicopter

and then he swam ashore.

He had a physical courage

that was
on the verge of being,

you know, suicidal.

Gianni loved to do
the Cresta Run.

You're on a toboggan
going down a chute

at, like,
100 miles an hour.

You know,
I said to him one day,

"Why don't you just go
to the, you know,

the Empire State Building
and jump off?"

He valued courage
in the abstract.

He practiced it every day
when he drove his car,

which was
a hair-raising experience.

There are many ways
of dying.

I don't think an accident
is the worst.

There are infinitely duller
and more unpleasant ways.

I drive many times
with him.

Terrible, terrible experience.
Terrible experience.

He drove always
like we would be

in a Formula One race,

despite we were in Torino.

He was completely crazy.

Totally disregarded
policemen, one-way streets.

He would pass all the red lights
and he would not look around.

When you see those things
in films,

you think they're not true,
but with Gianni, they were.

That's the way it was.

I said, "Listen,
you son of a bitch,

if you want to, you know,
to die in the mountains

and to do things like that, you
don't have to make other people.

So I'm not talking to you
for the next 24 hours."

People that were around him,
they were all in awe of him.

The Avvocato!

I mean, it was insane,
absolute madness.

And here comes the bride,

the honorable
Pamela Digby, age 19.

The bridegroom, Mr. Randolph
Churchill, is with his regiment.

So it's swords and smiles,
and the bride is having

quite a lot of trouble
with that feather.

At the end of WWII,
Pamela Churchill

filed divorce
from Randolph Churchill,

the son
of the prime minister.

He was a terrible drunk
and disliked by many people.

So she needed to make
some new conquests.

She went to a big ball

that was being thrown
by Aly Khan,

one of the great playboys
of the Western world.

Pamela and he struck up
this affair,

but there was a moment

when he spotted
Rita Hayworth

and fell head over heels
in love with her.

He had been trying
to figure out

how to extricate himself
from Pamela,

and he came up
with an ingenious solution.

Aly Khan wanted
to get rid of her.

And he found that Gianni
was a very good occasion.

Aly Khan's good friend,
Gianni Agnelli,

fellow playboy,
came by boat...

caught sight of Pamela

and said, "Buongiorno."

He was going off
on a sail.

He invited her out for a day
and she just stayed.

It was a smart political move
on his side.

Don't forget it was
after the World War

and Italy had been
on the Axis side.

Using her name Churchill
helped tremendously.

They were using each other.

He was learning how to be
a political operator.

Pamela understood that.

She became a bit
of a Pygmalion for Gianni.

She wanted him
to advance

so that she could become
the unofficial queen of Italy.

The Churchill alliance
was very valuable.

He was able to make
Washington connections,

cleanse the reputation
of FIAT.

And that was the most
important thing that she did.

He responded
with incredible generosity.

He bought Pamela a flat

in the most beautiful
neighborhood in Paris.

He gave her a butler

and a Bentley
and a chauffeur.

And he opened up accounts
at all the best couturiers.

She converted
to Catholicism

because she figured
that was absolutely necessary

to getting Gianni
to marry her.

It didn't work.

He used to go to sort of
"loose houses," as we call them,

and try
to pick somebody up.

Pamela was away.

Gianni spotted
this really gorgeous woman

named
Anne-Marie d'Estainville.

They hooked up that night

and they were embracing
on the terrace.

And who should suddenly
appear but Pamela?

She flew into a rage.

She threw something
at them.

With her screaming
and calling Anne-Marie,

who was certainly a very pretty,
innocent young girl,

a hooker and all that.

They decided they would...

They would get out of there
very, very quickly,

so they jumped
into Gianni's car.

Gianni was kind of
in a state of agitation.

Something was off
about him.

He was...
He had taken drugs.

He was coked
out of his head.

I mean, he was
really stoned constantly.

He did a lot
when he was young.

He used to refer
to "the great white nights"...

"les grandes
nuits blanches."

He was going very fast

and slammed
into a butcher's truck.

It was a very,
very bad crash.

The young girl had nothing
at all, walked away,

but Gianni
went to the hospital.

Gianni had seven fractures
in one of his legs.

It was swollen so much.

It was gangrene.

For two months
he had to lie,

leg upside down,
covered with antibiotics.

I must say,
I never heard him complain.

Pamela rushed
to his bedside.

His four sisters
would have none of it.

Well, I didn't like her
very much.

I think she was too bossy
for my taste.

Did you and your sisters
feel protective of Gianni?

Protective, quite not,
but, uh...

How should I say?

Concerned.

Very concerned.

The sisters took matters
in their own hands.

Two of the sisters,
Cristiana and Maria Sole,

had a very good friend,
Princess Marella Caracciolo.

Marella came
from the Caracciolo family,

which were
Neapolitan aristocrats.

You know,
almost royal family.

I had a house
in Trastevere

and it was just behind
Marella's house.

And so at that time
I was very lucky

because I had a car
and I could drive.

And so every time we went out,
I took Marella with me.

All my friends
wanted to marry her.

And Gianni was always
saying that that's a lovely girl.

She met Gianni
right after the war

and had fallen
completely in love with him.

When the sisters called, she
immediately went to Florence

to visit him
in the hospital.

She was always with us
and she was always,

"Oh, Gianni," was always
looking for Gianni

and thinking about Gianni
for five years,

and after...
And after, she got him.

My mother felt
he was too much freethinking

to be a good husband.

She didn't like him
at all.

She said,
"That awful boy."

His reputation was
very much glamorous, no?

He's what you call
"Don Giovanni."

Absolutely.

But even if he says
that only maids get in love,

Gianni was very in love
with Marella at that moment.

Marella spent the first
few months

lying on a sofa,
drinking orange juice,

and reading books
on French poetry.

Gianni got more
and more worried about this.

You know,
having this sloppy wife.

And so he called Countess
Lily Volpi in Venice.

She had Palazzo Volpi
and she hosted

the best parties,
the best dinners.

And he sent Marella there

for an intensive course
of how to manage a home.

She spent terrifying days
with this... with this old witch.

Then I guess she understood
that she had a job to do

as well as being in love
and having a husband.

During their early years,
they lived in Turin.

They had two kids.

Gianni named his son Edoardo
after his father.

He was so happy

about this birth
of this boy.

He came to see my daughter
and he said, "Ah!

She's the same age as Edoardo,"
you know, comparing,

which is something I never
thought I'd see Gianni do.

Gianni had bought
La Leopolda.

It was a grand house.

Just sort of one drawing room
after another.

It was used
for "The Red Shoes."

It was huge
and it was on levels.

Marella and Gianni
entertained almost everybody...

You know, kings,
heads of state.

They were considered
the top, top class

of the couples
around the world.

To be invited
to Gianni's house

was always... everybody
wanted to be invited,

and Marella made quite
a decor about the house.

You know you have no idea
in that moment...

Americans, when they want
to be... up to date...

they were
imitating the look...

Everything
of the Agnellis' house.

Gianni had a great eye.

Really obsessed
by aesthetics.

From the beginning,

he got this unbelievable
connaissance of paintings.

He loved Balthus

long before Balthus
was admired by the public.

The very first things
he bought from me

were two early
hand-painted Warhols.

One with a Batman on it
in full color.

It was something which
attracted him very much.

He kept it always very dearly
and always had it with him

in one
of his bedrooms somewhere.

A garçonnière is a place
where guys go,

which they keep
to meet their mistresses.

The garçonnière was a way
of being private

and of not having...

you know,
not having... scandal.

And did Gianni
have a couple?

He had them
all over the place.

The Villa Bona
is a one-bedroom,

Italo-Japanese
bachelor retreat

studded with sculpture by
Lynn Chadwick and Henry Moore

that most cities
would envy.

I noticed it's loaded
with pop art.

This is a joke.

I mean, I think it's a maggoty
moment ol' smile or mouth,

but I think it makes one
feel rather in a gay mood

to have it around.

If I'm nervous
or keyed up

or excited or, I mean, any of
these sort of emotional conditions

one can be in, if you have a chance
of looking at something beautiful,

it's always extremely calming
and extremely balancing.

The Agnellis were seen
as paragons of style.

The way they dressed was
the epitome of the epitome.

Marella used to come
to the fashion house

to get some clothes
from Valentino.

She was extremely simple.

But, you know, she had
this size, extraordinary.

This long neck,
beautiful legs.

And everything
was fantastic on her.

Style was Gianni's life.

Style was everything.

The way he dressed,
it was very recognizable.

It was very in good taste.

He cared about that a lot.

Gianni always used to wear
his tie like this.

How can a man
who wears his tie like that

be the best dressed man
in Italy?

But he was the best
dressed man in Italy.

Everybody tried to copy him,

to put the watch on top
of the cuff of the shirt.

A little detail.

I was in my 20s.
He had just done this.

I saw it and I thought,
"What a good idea."

Did you ever see
other people copying him?

Everybody.

Who didn't copy him?

I did copy myself.

One big part of the Agnelli
style and Agnelli aesthetic

is that it's never supposed to
look like you're trying to have style.

It's like the dinner party
just happened, you know?

And you just happened to wake up
and grab something from your closet

and you look
totally fabulous.

It always was about
ease and grace

and never trying
too hard.

Here you had a man.

He had a leg that was
practically destroyed.

He used to ski in a brace
with great elegance

and go down faster
than anybody else.

And that grace was something
that he and Marella both had,

and that was something that other
people around them kind of emulated.

How did the Agnellis differ

from an aristocratic
English family?

Well, they were certainly
a lot more friendly.

The duke, when he came
down and he passed us,

we all had to just put our backs
to the wall and look at the floor

whereas
with Mr. and Mrs. Agnelli,

you became
part of the family.

When I left my wife...

and I came out
of the cupboard,

the first person I told
was Mr. Agnelli.

I told him right away
because I wanted him to know

and because
I was living in his house.

I was... I was part
of the household.

He had a right to know.

What did you
tell him exactly?

I got meself
a boyfriend.

And he didn't...
"Oh, oh."

Not really
very interested at all.

Led on he wasn't
very interested.

Actually,
the first thing he did,

he went around the corner,
got on the telephone,

and rang
the Duke of Beaufort

and said,
"Stuart's queer!"

He rang everybody
because he loved gossip.

He loved it.
Loved it.

Gianni had this habit
with everyone

to wait till about
4:00 or 5:00 in the morning,

say, "Is it amusing
in London?"

Or "Is it amusing
wherever you are?"

And this poor person,
you know, was in deep sleep.

This is because of Gianni.

In all the phones I have,

I have a "do not disturb"
button, okay?

This is because of him.

Because he would call me
at 6:00 in the morning

wherever I was and say,
"Oh, did I wake you?"

I'd say...

When he had said
what he needed to say,

he just hung up, so you...
You were sitting there waiting.

When will
the hang up come?

I have this house
in the South of France,

and he would call me.

And he says,
"How is the sea?"

I said, "Gianni, I have no
idea how the sea... I'm tired."

"Go look!" And so I'd go
and look in my window.

And I said,
"The sea is beautiful."

He said, "Are you sure?"
I said, "Yes."

He said, "My captain told me
the sea is terrible.

He always lies
to me, okay?"

And then sleeping
and the door knocks.

And I said, "Who is it?"
"Gianni." I said...

So he had landed on my place
with a helicopter

at 6:00 in the morning and said,
"Okay, let's go sailing."

The Agneta
was a magnificent boat.

It was mahogany.

In any weather
you had to go in this boat.

And the boat was like that

and he was happy
like that.

He had this enormous appetite
for life, for life.

When he was around,
the pace of life changed.

Everything.

Electricity.

Go, go, go.

Rome for lunch
and dinner in Paris,

and then he would fly
back to Turin.

And in the morning
he would go to Germany.

I mean, move, move, move
all the time.

Driving fast,
moving fast.

When you got to the end of
the day, your mind was a blank

because you took in
Rome, Venice,

Paris,
and come back again.

The worst thing was stepping
back into your own life.

That was the worst
because you were with this guy

who was James Bond-îsh.

Then when you'd step back into
your life, it was such a huge letdown.

No one ever said
that he wasn't wicked.

There was
a great wickedness.

That was part
of his great charm.

When the Kennedys
arrived in 1961,

Washington exploded
with glamour and culture.

And they had a series

of these fantastic
black-tie dinner dances,

the first of which
was in 1961,

and the guests of honor were
Gianni and Marella Agnelli.

Agnelli wanted to promote

American-European relations

and something
like an Atlantic community.

Gianni always saw his role

as trying to keep Italy
in the West,

to be part of NATO,

to tug, pull Italy
in a modernizing direction.

I came to Europe
to reassert

as clearly and persuasively
as I could

that the American commitment to
the freedom of Europe is reliable.

In 1962,

Jackie and Jackie's daughter,
Caroline, went to Italy.

It was during that time
that the rumors began.

There were photographs
of Gianni and Jackie

sitting together or lounging
on the yacht together.

Gianni had a boat.
He took her to Capri.

There was this...
singer there.

I think she had
great fun.

The "New York Daily News"
said something like,

"First Lady
in Pirate's Den."

JFK did send her
a telegram

saying, "More Caroline,
less Agnelli."

I don't know.

I don't... but I wouldn't
be surprised.

Ecco.
Should I say that?

I shouldn't say it,
maybe.

I met Margherita
just one time in my life.

I was with her father,
and at a certain moment,

the door opened
and appeared Margherita

completely shaved.

Agnelli looked at her
and said,

"What did you do?"

And she said,
"At least you noticed me."

And she went.

When I got to be
on the board of FIAT,

I realized
he was humble.

Very much
in the line of duty.

Gianni was a very
international man,

so when he took over,

he introduced
American thinking into FIAT.

And that was a good thing,
because by then,

FIAT really needed to become
a bit more of a modern company.

Gianni did have
a huge responsibility to Italy.

What he had
to devote his life to

was to making FIAT strong.

That would strengthen the entire
economy of Italy, which it did.

FIAT became the most important
European carmaker.

It overtook
Volkswagen of Germany,

which was always
the big rival.

By 1969, Ferrari,
an Italian treasure,

was in serious trouble.

Ferrari loved racing.

For him, selling cars was
to fund the racing activity.

And he had run
into difficulties.

And that's when
he asked

my grandfather
to help him.

Ferrari was up for sale
and Ford was very interested.

For Gianni,
it was unthinkable

for Ferrari to be
not in Italian hands.

The entire motor industry
is concerned

with the American
safety standards.

Agnelli, according
to his plant manager,

had to be restrained from
sitting in the cars during the tests.

No. Not too bad.

FIAT and Agnelli represent

the new European challenge
to America.

Quick to engage
new technologies,

but sensitive
to the human problems

of the new
industrial state.

Our size
is over a million cars.

I... we'll sell over a million...
1,150,000 this year.

I don't know
if that's a safe size,

but it's already
a big enough size

to be competitors
with the United States.

Gianni was stepping
into the end

of the golden period
of FIAT,

which was basically
from 1945

until about 1967
and 1968.

Then...

the unrest started
in Italy.

The student protests in France
spread to Italy,

where they soon spread
to the workers.

All over Europe we had...

a sense of change,
of evolution.

The company is under
heavy pressure

from Communist-dominated
unions

in spite of the fact
that FIAT

is recognized as having
one of the most enlightened

industrial relations policies
in Europe.

Gianni's impulse
when confronted with strikes

or other tense moments
in labor relations

was to try
and talk to them.

When you were
at Agnelli's home...

the Communists
and trade union people

and...
And left-wing writers

and right-wing writers,
they were all there.

He had
great sympathy for workers

and also
for their plight.

He signed an agreement
with inflation skyrocketing.

Indexing wages
to inflation.

It bought labor peace.

The left-wing party
supported it.

Many of his critics
say it really hurt

Italian business
and industry.

He justified always,
even with me,

saying,
"At that moment in time

with the tension
characterizing the country,

with the social tension,
political uncertainty,

it was needed to have
such an agreement."

There were a lot of people
against FIAT in Turin,

but not against
Gianni Agnelli.

There was a...
Something like a space.

Mr. Agnelli was the owner
of Juventus,

the most popular
Italian soccer club.

In Turin, Juventus,
the city's football team,

is one of Italy's
leading teams.

And one of the responsibilities
of being an Agnelli

is to see to it
that Juventus wins.

I love it, and...

His workmen,
they were Communists.

So during the week,
they were fighting with him,

but on the weekend
they were on his side.

And wherever he went,
there was somebody

who was going,
"Oh, Avvocato!

Come on, Juventus!
Juventus!"

They used to pass by
in the car, "Juventus!"

FIAT, in that period,

they had been facing
the Kippur crisis.

The cost of gasoline
was going up very quickly.

They were not
selling cars.

By 1975, the car market
in Italy declined 40%.

FIAT was bleeding.

Really, there was
no money left.

I told him, "Look,
Mr. Agnelli,

if you look
at the P&L of FIAT,

you immediately understand
that there aren't too many people

for what we are able
to produce.

We need to lay off
at least 60,000 people."

There was an excess
of workforce.

And Agnelli said,
"I don't question,

but I am not here
to solve our problems

to the detriment
of the Italian situation.

Because if I lay off
all these people,

who's going
to offer them a job?"

As a result
of the oil price hike,

the Libyan Arab
Foreign Company

was very, very rich
and full of petrol dollars.

FIAT needed an infusion
of capital

and the Libyans
were interested.

Gaddafi at the time
was not seen

as a particularly
nasty dictator.

He was seen as one of these
eccentric Northern African rulers.

Just a bit crazy.

So, here comes this deal
of selling 10%

or a minority stake of FIAT
for a huge price.

No.

Yes.

Gianni went ahead
and did it anyway.

It was an equity infusion
of $400 million,

which at that time
was an unbelievable sum.

It was a fantastic deal
for FIAT.

The Libyans had board seats,

but they couldn't influence
the way FIAT was run.

It worked
astonishingly smoothly.

When... when
the Libyans came,

he called me up
and told me, "Look...

resign from the board.

It's... it's not to the liking
of my new partners or...

not partners,
but stockholders,

to have a... somebody with
a Jewish name on the board.

So, please,
good-bye."

It's one aspect
of Mr. Agnelli...

It's his toughness.

He was a totally
unsentimental gentleman.

And I love him
and I always did.

But he was like that.

FIAT was a sort of
raison d'état.

It would come
before everything.

Gianni felt
that he was running

more than a corporation;
He was running an economy.

He was the king of Italy.

Of that,
there was no doubt about it.

In the years I was there,
he controlled everything.

"Controlled everything."
One moment.

Mr. Cuccia
controlled everything.

If there was
a political system

that was structured
to keep Italy

from toppling over,

there was also an economic
structure with the same purpose.

And that was centered
on Mediobanca.

Mediobanca was run by
an extraordinary individual,

who was Mr. Cuccia.

If you say the spider
at the center of the web,

that sounds perhaps
oversinister, but he was.

He was fundamentally
a Sicilian.

He would make
things happen.

Not all the time.

You... you wouldn't
know how.

Cuccia called Agnelli

and said, "I want you to hire
a new chief financial officer

because I don't understand
your account and you don't either."

That is the reason
why Romiti joined FIAT.

Romiti had the nickname
"I'll Duro,"

the... the tough one.

Romiti was a Roman

and he was
completely at home

in playing the power game
with Roman politicians.

And Gianni was actually not
very comfortable in doing that.

He's too Turinese,
he's too Northern Italian.

He found it quite ugly.

It didn't fit
into his... his idea

of how things
should be done.

He let Romiti
do the dirty work.

That also made Romiti
later on so powerful

because Romiti
knew all the secrets.

- Who was Romiti loyal to...
- Gianni or Cuccia?

There is no doubt
in my mind

that Romiti worked for FIAT,
but on behalf of Cuccia.

Italians were
at the ballot box again.

The Communists won
over 33% of the votes.

It was a major
Communist victory

and it was
celebrated as such.

The Communists take over
even the city of Torino

and the region of Piedmont.

That was a shock
for the country.

Italy now has the biggest
Communist party in the West.

Something like
two million members.

It controls unions
and, through them,

controls the industries
and offices

where
the union members work.

Bologna, Milan, Turin,
Florence, Naples, Venice,

Genoa, Pisa, and even the
government of Rome is Communist.

It was the dead center
of the Cold War.

The United States
with its NATO allies

versus the Soviet Union.

The United States does have
apprehension on a broader basis

for Communist participation
in the Italian government.

Italy was the weak link
in NATO.

It was the weak link
in the European Union.

It was the place in which
it was most likely

that a West European country
might somehow

topple over
into the Soviet camp.

The Agnellis were seen as
the villains, the capitalists.

There were these famous
slogans in the streets...

Which means...

Maintaining order
in a situation

which was prerevolutionary
was very difficult.

There was drug dealing,
prostitution.

There were incidents
of FIAT managers kneecapped.

There was really
terrorism and violence.

The Red Brigades were
ideologically motivated.

The Red Brigades
wanted to instill

some kind
of leftist alternative.

I mean,
they were anarchic ideas,

they were
quasi-Communist ideas.

The fundamental drive
was armed revolution.

Between '77 and '79,
the Italian terrorists

had really ramped up
their activities.

Terrorist organizations
were shooting people,

preparing attacks.

The Red Brigades
were taunting Italy.

The Red Brigades have
demonstrated ruthless skills

in maiming or killing
establishment figures,

such as this magistrate
shot dead in Rome

on February the 14th
this year.

On Tuesday,
a guard from the Turin jail

was shot dead
by three gunmen.

Firebombing of industrial
executives' cars

escalated to kneecapping
of politicians and journalists,

then kidnapping
and murder.

So far this year,
there have been

over 1,000 acts
of political violence.

Every morning
was the war bulletin.

You'd tune the radio in and see
who had gotten shot that very day.

And every day,
something would occur.

A manager, a judge.

FIAT executives
were prime targets.

My father, he was going
to go to the office.

He left my mother in the
garage downstairs, the house,

and took his car.

And these people
were waiting for him.

They had been following
my father for weeks.

Two of them came behind him
and shoot him.

Gianni was very distressed
about the situation.

And also about...
kidnapping.

After 53 days in captivity,

the Red Brigades
assassinated Aldo Moro,

Prime Minister of Italy.

Agnelli was pessimistic
on Italy.

He considered
that the country was lost.

The Brigate Rosse
wanted to kill him.

Of that,
there's no doubt.

They closed down
Villar Perosa

because there's 360 acres.

There was absolutely no way
you could close the place off.

If somebody wanted
to do something,

put a bomb or something
into the house,

they could do it.

Many fellow industrialists
left Italy.

Gianni never
even thought about that.

He stayed in his town,

went to the factory every day,
went to his office.

He was convinced
that it would signal

to other people in the world
that he believed in Italy

and therefore,
they would believe in Italy.

He would drive his own car,

losing the escort,
the police car

that were preceding
and following him.

He had this FIAT car
because it was important

that he, as the head of FIAT,
had a FIAT car,

but the motor
was obviously a Ferrari.

He was extremely clever

in changing
his own itinerary

every way to go to FIAT.

He made sure the Turin people
knew he was there.

It happened several times.

He said, "Let's go and
walk through Via Roma

that is the central Turin
5th Avenue."

With no escort.

And with a crowd around
that was telling him,

"Thank you
for being here."

It was normal.

That is dangerous,
fine.

Who said that life
should not be dangerous?

A number of people,
61 in particular,

were fired from FIAT Auto.

Many of them were
suspected of being terrorists.

Predictably, the firings
caused strikes.

There was a negotiation
of a contract

of the auto workers,

and there was a long strike
over not one day, two days.

Many days.

Most of the Communist party
in Italy,

they respect the idea

of FIAT
as a private industry.

But they were
a radical area.

They had the idea

to change the country
completely.

The head of the Communist
party, Berlinguer,

did a speech at the gates
of the Mirafiori complex.

He said, "Should it
be necessary,

we could occupy
FIAT's plants."

Suddenly, the middle ranks
of the FIAT workers

organized a march.

40,000 people marched
through the city of Torino

demanding that they be given
the right to go back to work.

It was an absolutely
stunning development

because nothing of the sort
had ever happened in Italy,

and it completely stunned
the organizers of that strike.

And they immediately
gave up.

They said,
"Okay, we were defeated.

We give up.
Tell us what you want."

"Let's make
an agreement here

and close this very bloody
chapter of Italian history."

In 1981, things really
turned around for FIAT

and for
the Italian economy.

The '80s are completely,
completely different.

In Italy, there's an obvious
and growing prosperity.

And much of it is due
to FIAT's success.

Italy's become
the talk of Europe.

Its emergence
as a new economic power.

To what do you attribute
this strength?

Industrial relations
have settled

with a better relationship with
the workmen and the industry.

Mr. Agnelli, what is
the best automobile

in the entire world?

Well, I think
the best buy is a FIAT.

FIAT at that time
had the resources

to buy back Gaddafi.

So this huge operation
was engineered.

It was very expensive
to get rid

of the Gaddafi people,
but he did.

When Italy gets better
in the '80s,

L'Avvocato is seen
as a unifying figure.

There were money
for the unions,

there were money
for the workers.

FIAT was doing
very, very well.

Gianni was diagnosed
with prostate cancer.

He was tired and he would
have liked to take a step back.

By the early '90s,
FIAT was leaking cash.

Enrico Cuccia
used this as a lever

to impose Romiti.

Cuccia said Gianni had to
stay on himself as chairman

and to keep Romiti
as chief executive.

Otherwise, we won't provide
the cash to save the company.

Gianni had to let down
his brother.

Romiti had won.

Gianni, who never swam
in the pool,

suddenly jumped
in the pool.

As if to cleanse himself

of something
he didn't want to do.

Five years later,
Cuccia had less influence

and Gianni was able to
finally get Romiti to retire.

He was then looking
for a new chairman.

From early childhood,

Edoardo Agnelli could assume
to be the next boss of FIAT.

Edoardo was
a very intelligent,

very sensitive boy.

I mean, he was
really of good quality.

But he had
all the qualities

which Gianni
could not appreciate

because he was...
He was sentimental.

He was an intellectual and
totally different from his father.

They say that intelligent boys
aren't very, uh...

courageous...

because you're stupid

when you're too courageous.

But that was something
my brother didn't like.

He didn't like that Edoardo
wouldn't jump down into the sea

and go into the waves.

Gianni would tell Edoardo,

"Today we're going to go
to the soccer game.

I'm going to pick you up
at 3:00."

And then
he would never show up

because
he'd completely forgotten.

He came here to Princeton
and then...

things went south.

Edoardo got heavily
into drugs, into heroin,

and Gianni probably felt
somehow responsible,

as well he should.

There was a succession problem.

Edoardo was not suitable
for any role in the company.

On the other hand,
Umberto's son,

Giovanni Alberto,
showed a lot of promise,

and Gianni thought, "Well,
he is the likely heir."

Gianni told his brother, "Here is the
next head of FIAT, and it's your son."

And so, although Umberto
was never going to get the role

he had been waiting for
all his life,

at that stage at least his son
was going to take over.

Giovannino was a very
clever boy, very hardworking,

so we all put
a lot of...

hopes in him.

He was the one.

And, you know,
everyone knew that

and... then he wasn't there
anymore

in a very, very fast way.

He was 32 when
they discovered this cancer.

They discovered it,
like, in the spring

and he was dead
by the end of that year.

He was this beautiful,
beautiful boy,

so full of life.

He had just gotten married.
He was waiting for a baby.

He was always smiling.
He was always laughing.

He was...
He had everything.

Umberto was absolutely
struck dead.

He never got out of the story
about Giovannino.

Life has to...
Has to go on,

so Agnelli told me...

I had to fill the position
in the board.

The only person
in the dynasty line...

was John.

He found
one of his grandsons

that he really liked.

He said, "My grandfather
put me into the board of FIAT

when I was 21, so I don't see
why I shouldn't do the same."

He asked me if I would go
with him in his room,

and so I went
with him in his room.

And he basically said, "I'm thinking
of appointing you to the board."

And that was basically it.

I think he was
an amazing grandfather.

I wouldn't have wanted
to be his kid.

We had lunch
and I remember at some point,

Edoardo said something
and... and Gianni...

really lashed out at him.

And so I thought, you know, "I
can't believe that after all these years,

their relationship
is still so strained

with a lack of respect
on the part of his father."

That was three days
before Edoardo took his life.

He jumped from 100 meters.

The call came,

and when Marella came back
to the table,

she was
visibly distraught

and she said that she wanted
to go for a walk.

She said now she knows
why her father

told her the story about
Francis of Assisi and Clare.

Clare's friend had thrown
himself off the bridge.

And St. Francis
wrote Clare saying,

"Clare, Clare,
do not despair.

Between the bridge and
the water, I was there."

My grandfather sadly had to
go alone to recognize his son.

And he had my uncle
restitched and reput in...

In an acceptable way

for my grandmother
to see him.

Gianni was
completely devastated

and he said to me,

"God, you must have
lots of guts

to throw yourself down
from that sort of bridge."

Edoardo did it to show
his father he had guts.

When Edoardo died,

we went for the funeral

to the house
in Villar Perosa.

Gianni at the end said,

"We should never forget
that this was a happy house.

But this is not
a happy house now."

I wrote him a letter.

And I told him
to go to that...

that if he went to
the Museum of Natural History

and looked
at the cosmos...

he might think
that there is...

an ultimate finish
that we can't understand.

Or maybe not.

And he never answered
that letter until a year later.

And, uh...
said he had done it

and it had had some
meaning for him.

He got hit much more
than my grandmother.

That made his body weaken.

Everything went downhill.

He fell in a... into a state of...
what I thought was depression.

It was one of the saddest
things I've ever seen

because...

you suddenly see a titan,
somebody who's larger than life,

somebody that you really
thought would never die

completely defeated.

His funeral created
the largest crowd

that the city of Turin
has ever seen.

Workers, people
of his own city

queued in...
In a cold winter day.

When we stood up there,

all the family,
my hands hurt so much,

I couldn't...
I had to give my left hand

because I couldn't give
my right hand anymore.

And so many people said,

"I got something
from your brother.

I got something.
I had a friendship.

I had...
He gave work to my son.

He gave work to my brother."
You know.

And they said, "When things
in Turin were going badly...

we heard a helicopter
pass through there.

We knew he was arriving in
town and we were happy about it."

He would never admit it,
but he knew he was

the Prince of Italy.

He was the international
image of Italy.

The most glamorous man
in Italy.

He was the epitome
of what an Italian should be.

Very polite,
popular with ladies,

flamboyant enough,
not too much.

Stable in a period
of instability.

He was really a...
A prince.

Christmas cards were always
done by my grandmother.

My grandfather was alive
Christmas 2002, 2003.

He decided to work
on his own Christmas card.

So he carefully picked
three pictures...

Of Stealth,
which is this sailing boat

he was very proud
to have built;

Of Ferrari, who in 2002
won the world championship;

And finally, Juventus won
the Italian championship,

the scudetto, in 2002.

He really wanted

to give a sign
of vitality.

And it was a way
of lifting the spirit.