Susanna Agnelli | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 17 January 1995 – 17 May 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Lamberto Dini |
| Preceded by | Antonio Martino |
| Succeeded by | Lamberto Dini |
| Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 9 August 1983 – 11 April 1991 | |
| Prime Minister | Bettino Craxi Giovanni Goria Ciriaco De Mita Giulio Andreotti |
| Member of theSenate of the Republic | |
| In office 12 July 1983 – 22 April 1992 | |
| Constituency | Piedmont |
| Member of theEuropean Parliament | |
| In office 17 July 1979 – 1 October 1981 | |
| Constituency | North-West Italy |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office 5 July 1976 – 11 July 1983 | |
| Constituency | Como |
| Mayor ofMonte Argentario | |
| In office 8 July 1974 – 20 October 1984 | |
| Preceded by | Ettore Zolesi |
| Succeeded by | Florio Zolesi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1922-04-24)24 April 1922 Turin, Italy |
| Died | 15 May 2009(2009-05-15) (aged 87) Rome, Italy |
| Party | PRI |
| Spouse(s) | Count Urbano Rattazzi Jr. (m. 1945; div. 1975) |
| Children | 6 |
| Parents |
|
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, philanthropist, politician, writer |
Susanna Agnelli, Contessa RattazziCavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (24 April 1922 – 15 May 2009), was an Italian politician, businesswoman, and writer. Involved inItalian politics for over twenty years,[1] she was the first woman to be appointedItalian Minister of Foreign Affairs.[2][3] She was also the first Italian minister to be Minister of Foreign Affairs andundersecretary of the same ministry.[4]
Agnelli was born inTurin, the daughter ofEdoardo Agnelli andDonnaVirginia Bourbon del Monte, a daughter of the Prince of San Faustino and his Kentucky-born wifeJane Allen Campbell.[5][6] Her grandfather,Giovanni Agnelli, foundedFiat S.p.A.[7] She is the sister ofGianni Agnelli,[8] who was the head of Fiat until 1996;[9][10][11] members of theAgnelli family are still the controlling shareholders of the company.[2] Affectionally called Suni,[12][13][14] her British governess used to tell her: "Never forget you are an Agnelli."[15][16]
During World War II, Agnelli worked at times as a nurse for theRed Cross, and when transport became unobtainable in the postwar chaos she used her connections with Fiat and the Allied military to establish for the Red Cross a fleet of five ambulances with ten drivers to transport injured and sick civilians.[17] Having graduated inliterature, she received ahonorary degree inlaw from the Mount Holyoke University in 1984.[18]
Politically, the Agnelli family sought to create a non-ideological,centrist political formation ofAtlanticist andpro-European persuasion that sought a modernizing, internationalist capitalism in contrast to the left and opposed to the populist, nationalist, or fascist right.[19] In 1974, Agnelli gained her first public appointment, when she became mayor ofMonte Argentario. Both her great-grandfather and grandfather,Giovanni Agnelli, had been mayors in their time. Agnelli served as mayor for a decade from 1974 to 1984. The experience inspired her to enter national politics. Agnelli was elected to theItalian Parliament in 1976 for theItalian Republican Party (PRI), of which her brotherGianni Agnelli was also close. In 1979, still for the PRI, she was an MEP in theEuropean Parliament from 1979 to 1981 and sat in theEuropean Liberals and Democrats group.[20] In 1983, she returned to the Italian Parliament, becoming a member of theSenate of the Republic. The culmination of her political career was her appointment as the first femaleItalian Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1995; it was not until 2013 thatEmma Bonino became the next female incumbent of the post. Agnelli served for more than a year, which in the fragile politics of postwar Italy makes her one of the most long-lasting holders of the office.[2] One of her first meetings was with thenUnited States Secretary of State,Warren Christopher.[21]
Agnelli was active inenvironmentalist causes.[2] Between the 1970s and 1980s, she was president of theWorld Wildlife Fund and was the only Italian member of theUnited Nations (UN) World Commission for the Environment and Development (Brundtland Report), later known as theBrundtland Commission. She also sat on the first board of the UN International Institute for Ageing.[22][23] Her mayoralty, which included a localleft-wing alliance between the self-styled PRI party of enlightened capitalism and theItalian Communist Party, a party that held high esteem for her anti-speculation efforts, was characterized by soil defence.[16] As a mayor, she also expressed her favourable view about the newabortion law in Italy that legalized abortion, for which the city's bishop excommunicated her.[24][25]
From the early 1990s, Agnelli was president of the Steering Committee ofTelethon, which was founded in Italy in 1990.[26] In 1997, she set up the Il Faro Foundation,[18][27] a non-profit organization that aims to help Italian and foreign young people in difficulty in the labour market.[28][29] She had a popular mail column titled "Private answers" in the weekly magazineOggi.[30][31] In an interview toThe Washington Post several years before her death, Agnelli discussed the most difficult part of politics. She said: "Sitting for days listening to people talk, talk, talk. Male politicians can stand up and talk to an empty house, where there are six people reading newspapers. I could never do that. It's such a waste of time."[32]
In 1945, Agnelli married Count Urbano Rattazzi Jr. (1918–2012),[33][34] the great-grandson of two-time prime ministerUrbano Rattazzi of theHistorical Left.[35] They had six children,[36] the youngest of whom is photographerPriscilla Rattazzi, who said Agnelli lovedNew York City.[2] Until 1960, they lived in Argentina. The marriage was dissolved in 1975.[18] She divided her time between New York and Italy, and she was long a loyal fan ofRobert Denning, ofDenning & Fourcade, who designed over 15 homes for her inManhattan,South America, and Italy.[37]
Agnelli died in Rome on 15 May 2009, aged 87.[2] From 3 April 2009, she had been hospitalized at theAgostino Gemelli University Policlinic for over a month after severe femoral trauma due to an accidental fall at home.[18][38] After her death, she was mourned among the main political and cultural actors. JournalistEnzo Biagi described Agnelly thusly: "They call her Suni; she is a courageous woman who above all has one merit: sincerity. Sometimes, in interviews, she too can say hasty things: but she's not a hypocrite or flatterer, she doesn't calculate. In forty days she wrote a book of memories, some even unpleasant: We Dressed in the Sailor Suit. It has sold 255,000 copies, has been translated into other languages, and won the Bancarella Prize."[18]
Agnelli wrote a number of books includingVestivamo alla marinara (1975),[39]Gente alla deriva(1980),Ricordati Gualeguaychu(1982),Addio, addio mio ultimo amore (1985), andQuesto libro è tuo (1993).[40][41][42] Her 1975 autobiography was a bestseller in Italy and won thePremio Bancarella.[43]
In 2022, Agnelli was the subject of an episode of theRAI docu-seriesIlluminate.[44]
| Election | House | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Chamber of Deputies | Como–Sondrio–Varese | PRI | 7,431 |  YElected | [1] | |
| 1979 | Chamber of Deputies | Como–Sondrio–Varese | PRI | 3,571 | YElected | [2] | |
| 1979 | European Parliament | North-West Italy | PRI | 101,232 | YElected | [3] | |
| 1983 | Senate of the Republic | Piedmont –Pinerolo | PRI | 24,508 | YElected | [4] | |
| 1987 | Senate of the Republic | Piedmont –Turin Fiat Aeritalia | PRI | 32,275 | YElected | [5] | |
Honorary Member of theXirka Ġieħ ir-Repubblika, 18 December 1995.[18]
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic, 21 May 1996.[45][46]
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| Preceded by | Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1995–1996 | Succeeded by |
Dini Cabinet (1995–1996) | ||
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