The tragic fate of Edoardo Agnelli

They owned world- renowned car brands such as Ferrari and Fiat, and throughout the 20th century, they passed down a vast fortune. However, as if defying fate, for some members of this family, money and fame did not bring them happiness.

There was no turning back. Below him lay an 80-meter-deep abyss, its bottom a cascade of boulders. Without hesitation, he leaped into the space before him, as if propelled by some invisible force…

Edoardo Agnelli (1954 - 2000)

A few minutes later, a patrol on the Turin-Savone highway was surprised to see a gray Fiat Croma parked in the middle of an overpass, doors wide open, engine and lights still running. Inside, a gray business card clearly identified the owner: Edoardo Agnelli, 46, the only son of Italy's biggest businessman, Giovanni Agnelli. Undoubtedly, having fallen 80 meters into the ravine, the heir to the Fiat car company died instantly on the gloomy and cold morning of November 15, 2000.

As the sad news spread, the whole of Italy was stunned into immeasurable grief, and the story of the 46-year-old middle-aged man and what happened in that fateful moment was passed around endlessly.

Edoardo Agnelli was born in New York on June 6, 1954, followed a year later by his younger sister, Margherita. In his youth, Edoardo was frail, a stark contrast to his strong, robust father who often chased after women. He preferred contemplation to action. As the only son, he was destined to inherit the vast Agnelli family fortune. Yet, at Princeton University, he preferred studying literature and philosophy to law and engineering.

Giovanni Agnelli, trying to instill a sense of authority in his son, placed Edoardo in a key position at the renowned Juventus football club in Turin. However, Edoardo made one mistake after another. Ultimately, Giovanni reluctantly concluded that his only son could not be the hope of his life. From then on, he never again entrusted Edoardo with overseeing or managing the factory.

Meanwhile, the naive young man in business achieved success alongside… women. But Edoardo's life of romantic entanglements didn't last long; he didn't marry and confined himself to his solitary four walls.

In 1990, during a vacation in Malindi (Kenya), he was arrested by local security forces carrying 300 grams of drugs.

Drugs. Edoardo was arrested but released thanks to the intervention of the Italian ambassador in Italy. Shortly after, he spoke out against the Fiat factory's leadership, which he believed employed inhumane management methods. He expressed his dream: "I want to see a Fiat factory where people work happily; I envision a Fiat where people no longer suffer and are exhausted." These words enraged Giovanni. And tragedy struck after Giovanni decided to choose his grandson, Elkann, to continue his business.

Edoardo and his father - Giovanni Agnelli

Disillusioned with his father's treatment, Edoardo moved thousands of kilometers away from Turin and became a philosophy professor at a school. His only friend at this time was the psychologist Alberto Pini, who regularly contacted him by phone to help him cope with his mental crisis.

As for Giovanni, the true owner of Fiat, his only remaining support was his grandson, John Elkann, the 22-year-old son of Margherita. Elkann was studying literature at Oxford University, but due to family pressure, had returned to study at the Politecnico di Torino, an engineering school in Turin.

The dramatic events within the Agnelli family weighed heavily on Edoardo's life. His father's decisive and cold-blooded disinheritance was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Edoardo took his own life on November 15, 2000. At his only son's funeral, Giovanni muttered, "My poor son, how terrible." Yet, before him shone the image of his three-year-old granddaughter, Virginia Asia. He hoped that in twenty years, she would hold the fate of the Agnelli family in her hands.

(to be continued)

(Excerpt from "Everyday Lives of Famous People Around the World," published by Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House, 2023)

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