The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty. The family's fortune traces its roots to Giovanni Agnelli who launched Fiat, Italy's largest automobile manufacturer.
In addition to its longtime association with Fiat, the Agnelli family is famous for its ownership of other popular automotive brands including Ferrari (1969), Lancia (1969), and Alfa Romeo (1986). As of 2009, the family added Chrysler to its vast network of auto manufacturers after the original company filed for bankruptcy. Moreover, since 1923, the Agnellis have been majority owners of the co-national Serie A football club, Juventus FC.Subscribed with code nº 214687, cf. as well as being the first shareholders of Sisport. Most members of the family are stakeholders in privately owned Giovanni Agnelli BV, which in turn has a controlling stake in the publicly listed holding company Exor.
The family has sometimes been described in American media as "the Kennedys of Italy" for their role in the country's contemporary history and their activity of patronage in modern art and in sports. the extended Agnelli family comprised about two hundred members.
Family tree
Edoardo Agnelli (1831–1871) married Aniceta Frisetti (1846–1920) Giovanni Agnelli (1866–1945) (founder of Fiat) married Clara Boselli (1869–1946) Aniceta Caterina (1889–1928) married Carlo Nasi (1877–1935) Clara Nasi (1913–2011) married Luca [dei marchesi] Ferrero de Gubernatis Ventimiglia (1906–1982) Laura Nasi (1914–1996) married Count Giancarlo Camerana (1909–1955) Giovanni Nasi (1918–1995) married Marinella Wolf (1922–2002) Umberta Nasi (1922–2004) married firstly Giuseppe Frua de Angeli (1912–1981), and then Giorgio Ajmone-Marsan (1926–2009) Emanuele Nasi (1928–1970) married Marisa Coop Diatto (1927–2016) Edoardo Agnelli II (1892–1935) married Virginia Bourbon del Monte (1899–1945) Clara Agnelli (7 April 1920 – 19 July 2016) she married Prince Tassilo of Fürstenberg (1903–1989) on 19 November 1938 and they were divorced. They have three children (see House of Fürstenberg (Swabia) for further descendants). She remarried Giovanni Nuvoletti (1912–2008) in 1974 Princess Ira von Fürstenberg (18 April 1940 – 19 February 2024) she married Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1924–2003) on 17 September 1955 and they were divorced on 14 December 1960. They have two sons. She remarried Francisco Pignatari (1916–1977) on 12 January 1961 and they were divorced in January 1964. Prince Egon von Fürstenberg (29 June 1946 – 11 June 2004) he married Diane Halfin on 16 July 1969 and they were divorced. They have two children. He remarried Lynn Marshall in 1983. Prince Alexandre Egon von Fürstenberg (b. 25 January 1970) Talita von Fürstenberg Tassilo von Fürstenberg Leon von Fürstenberg Vito von Fürstenberg Princess Tatiana Desirée von Fürstenberg (b. 16 February 1971) Antonia Steinberg Prince Sebastian von Fürstenberg (1950) he married Elisabetta Guarnati in 1972. They have one son and one daughter Princess Virginia von Fürstenberg (1974–2023) Baron Miklos Tassilo Csillaghy de Pacsér (1992) Baroness Ginevra Csillaghy de Pacsér (1995) Clara Bacco Dondi Dall'Orologio Otto Leone Polenghi Santiago Polenghi Prince Ernesto von Fürstenberg Fassio (1981) Princess Camilla Fürstenberg Fassio (2006) Prince Sebastian Fürstenberg Fassio (2009) Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (1921–2003) (also known as L'Avvocato) married Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto (1927–2019) Edoardo Agnelli III (1954–2000) Margherita Agnelli (born 1955) married firstly Alain Elkann (b. 1950, divorced) and then Serge de Pahlen (b.1944) John Elkann (born 1976) (current Chairman of Exor, Stellantis and Ferrari) married in 2004 Lavinia Ida Borromeo Arese Taverna (born 1977) Leone Mosè Elkann (born 2006) Oceano Noah Elkann (born 2007) Vita Talita Elkann (born 2012) Lapo Elkann (born 1977) married in 2021 Joana Lemos (born 1972) Ginevra Elkann (born 1979) married in 2009 Giovanni Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona (born 1973) Giacomo Gaetani d'Aragona (born 2009) Pietro Gaetani d'Aragona (born 2012) Marella Gaetani d'Aragona (born 2014) Maria De Pahlen (born 1984) Pietro De Pahlen (born 1987) Anna De Pahlen (born 1988) Sofia De Pahlen (born 1988) Tatiana De Pahlen (born 1990) Susanna Agnelli (1922–2009) married Count Urbano Rattazzi (1918–2012) and had six children before their marriage was annulled in 1975. Ilaria Rattazzi Samaritana Rattazzi (born 1947) married writer Vittorio Sermonti (1929–2016) Pietro Sermonti (born 1971) Anna Sermonti Cristiano Rattazzi (born 1948) president of Fiat in Argentina Delfina Rattazzi Lupo Rattazzi Priscilla Rattazzi (born 1956) Maria Sole Agnelli (1925–2025) married Count Ranieri di Campello della Spina (1908–1959) and had four children. After being widowed she then married Count Pio Teodorani-Fabbri (1924–2022E' morto Pio Teodorani Fabbri, era marito di Maria Sole, sorella di Gianni Agnelli) and had a son. Virginia Campello della Spina (born 1954) married Giuseppe della Chiesa Giacinta della Chiesa (born 1984) Benedetto della Chiesa (born 1986) Argenta Campello della Spina (born 1955) married Gianantonio Bertoli Sara Bertoli (born 1979) Alice Bertoli (born 1982) Evelina Bertoli (born 1986) Cintia Campello della Spina (born 1956) married Leopoldo Torlonia Maria Sole Torlonia (born 1985) Emanuela Torlonia (born 1988) Paolo Torlonia (born 1997) Bernardino Campello della Spina (born 1958) married Sonia Raule and then Francesca Rizzo Tancredi Campello della Spina (born 1987) Margherita Campello della Spina (born 1992) Angelica Campello della Spina (born 1994) Tristano Campello della Spina (born 2003) Ranieri Campello della Spina (born 2006) Edoardo Teodorani-Fabbri (born 1965) married Davina de Forest Cristiana Agnelli (1927–2026) married Count Brandolino Brandolini d'Adda (1918–2005) Tiberto (Ruy) Brandolini d'Adda married Princess Georgina de Faucigny-Lucinge et Coligny Cornelia (Coco) Brandolini d'Adda Bianca Brandolini d'Adda Leonello Brandolini d'Adda Nuno Brandolini d'Adda married Phan van Thiet Brandino Brandolini d'Adda married Marie Angliviel de la Beaumelle, a member of the aristocratic Rothschild family Guido Brando Marcantonio Brandolini d'Adda Gioacchino Giorgio Agnelli (1929–1965) Umberto Agnelli (1934–2004) married firstly Antonella Bechi Piaggio (1938–1999, divorced) and then Allegra Caracciolo di Castagneto (born 1945) Giovanni Alberto Agnelli (1964–1997) married Frances Avery Howe (born 1965) Virginia Asia Agnelli (born 1997) Andrea Agnelli (born 1975) (former President of Juventus FC) married Emma Winter (b. 1977, divorced). Remarried Deniz Akalin in April 2023 (born 1983) Baya Agnelli (born 2005) Giacomo Dai Agnelli (born 2011) Livia Selin Agnelli (born 2017) Vera Nil Agnelli (born 2018) Anna Agnelli (born 1977)
Some notable family members Giovanni Agnelli
In 1899, Giovanni Agnelli (1866–1945) and a group of investors founded the company Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino (Fiat).
Edoardo Agnelli
Edoardo Agnelli (1892–1935), industrialist and vice-president of the Italian car company Fiat and IFI, was the son of Giovanni Agnelli (1866–1945), the founder of Fiat. He had seven children, Clara (1920–2016), Gianni (1921–2003), Susanna (1922–2009), Maria Sole Agnelli (1925–2025), Cristiana (1927–), Giorgio Agnelli (1929–1965) and Umberto (1934–2004).
Agnelli's daughter Susanna Agnelli was the first woman to have been Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy.
Gianni Agnelli
Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003) was the oldest son of the industrialist and principal family shareholder of the Italian car company Fiat, Edoardo Agnelli. After WWII he earned a law degree at Turin University and his nickname was L'Avvocato ("The Lawyer"). He was the head of Fiat from 1966 to 2003 and made the company into the most important company in Italy and one of the major car builders of Europe. Gianni was a Fiat CEO. By 1956 he had become the "richest businessman in modern Italian history". In the 1960s and 1970s Fiat produced millions of modest cars including tiny 500 and 600 hatchbacks. Its Mirafiori plant in Turin, built 600,000 autos a year.
In the 1970s Gianni and Umberto Agnelli hired Cesare Romiti, known as Il Duro or the tough guy. During that time Fiat's production in Italy "peaked in 1970, when it employed well over 100,000 people there and made 1.4 million cars." Romiti led the firm from 28 February 1996 to 22 June 1998. Romiti was instrumental in the company's return to profitability during this period. Paolo Fresco succeeded him in the aforementioned post.
February 1992 saw the start of the mani pulite (Clean Hands) judicial inquiry into Tangentopoli, nationwide corruption with a large number of politicians, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs involved including senior Fiat executives.
In 1996 when Gianni reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 after serving as Fiat chairman for 30 years, Romiti replaced him as chairman. A year after Romiti took over as chairman of Fiat, he was convicted of "having falsified company accounts, committing tax fraud and making illegal payments to political parties." Romiti "was one of the most prominent people convicted since the start of Italy's campaign against corruption in 1992." Even though Gianni Agnelli was not implicated by the magistrates, some believed that he had lacked judgement in not denouncing Italy's endemic corruption and in downplaying Fiat's responsibilities. Gianni Agnelli in fact had defended the actions of Romiti and the co-accused Francesco Paolo Mattioli, Fiat's chief financial officer. A 1997 article published in The Economist quoted Gianni Agnelli confidence in the Turin Two's innocence and concluded that business attitudes among Italy's powerful ancien régime was left unchanged since the scandal of tangentopoli ("bribesville") emerged. "Mr. Romiti and Mr. Mattioli had approved a series of slush funds from 1980 through 1992 to provide for Fiat's illegal political contributions and had falsified accounts to hide the payments."
While Fiat was a family-controlled company, Gianni Agnelli alone held the family's controlling stake for nearly 60 years. Fiat is an "individual privately-owned oligopoly". Giovanni Agnelli & C. (GA&C), the family's limited partnership was Gianni's command center. By 2003, when he died, "The GA&C partnership was worth about 1.3 billion euros, and its assets consisted of listed holding companies Istituto Finanziario Industriale (IFI) and Istituto Finanziaria di Partecipazioni (IFIL), through which the family controlled Fiat and IFIL's stakes in other companies."
By the time of Gianni Agnelli's death in 2003, the "Agnelli family controlled Fiat through a chain of three separate holding companies." Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, Gianni's nephew, who died of cancer in 1997, had been in line to take control of the family companies. In 1997 Gianni publicly announced that his grandson, John Elkann, who was then 21, would succeed him as the head of the family empire. Edoardo Agnelli, Gianni's first-born son died in 2000.
He "died at the age of 81, after a prolonged battle with prostate cancer". At one time the Agnelli assets represented 4.4% of Italy's GDP. At the prestigious 2008 photography exhibition in Rome entitled Gianni Agnelli: An Extraordinary Life, the Agnelli family and the Italian government honoured L'Avvocato. Gianni Agnelli married Marella Agnelli (1927–2019) They had one son Edoardo Agnelli and one daughter Countess Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen.
According to the Independent Fiat survived the early first years of the twentieth century thanks to "generous government subsidies paid by Italian taxpayers." "As recently as 2002, Italy accounted for more than a third of Fiat's revenue, and the company built more than 1 million vehicles at six plants in the country."
Gianni Agnelli was considered to be the most prominent spokesperson representing the Italian economic elites.