Bruno Visentini was an Italian politician, senator, minister, lecturer and industrialist.
Occupation
politician, entrepreneur, university teacher
Position held
Member of the European Parliament, member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic, Member of the European Parliament, Italian Finance Minister
Bruno Visentini (August 1, 1914 – February 13, 1995) was an Italian politician, senator, minister, lecturer and industrialist.
Biography
Visentini was born in Treviso.
He graduated in law from Padua University and joined several anti-fascist student associations. In early 1943 he was arrested for being a partisan and released after July 25, the day of Benito Mussolini's resignation. While in prison, Visentini would ask his wife to bring food and clothes for all his cellmates, as well as various books to remain occupied and mentally stimulated. He was the co-founder of the Action Party (Partito d'Azione) with Ugo La Malfa, and took part in the resistance against the German occupation in Veneto and in Rome.
In 1946 he abandoned the Action Party and joined the Italian Republican Party (PRI). He was also appointed professor at the University of Urbino. In December 1945 Visentini was nominated undersecretary for the Minister of Finance in Alcide De Gasperi's first cabinet. In 1950 he became vice-president of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), a position he held until 1970; while at IRI, he was chairman of Olivetti (1963–1982, with a short interruption).
