Giovanni Volpi

Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata (born 1938 in Venice) is an Italian-Algerian nobleman and a former automobile racing manager and Formula One team owner. He inherited a fortune, at the age of 24, from his father, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, a politician financier and founder of the renowned Venice Film Festival. During World War II, Giovanni Volpi's father served in Mussolini's cabinet as the minister of Finance and one of his chief advisors. He designed several of Mussolini's austerity measures and escaped prosecution after the war. His father also acquired and restored Villa Barbaro at Maser, Italy, built originally for the Barbaro family. Giovanni Volpi is the son of Giuseppe and his second wife, Nathalie El Kanoni.[1]

1961 Ferrari 250 TR modified by Giotto Bizzarrini for Volpi's Scuderia Serenissima

Giovanni Volpi founded a racing team, Scuderia Serenissima, in 1961 and quickly became one of Ferrari's best customers. In 1962, Scuderia Serenissima commissioned to Piero Drogo and Giotto Bizzarrini the design of the Ferrari 250 GT Drogo, also known as Ferrari Breadvan.[2] At the end of the year, when a group of senior figures, including Bizzarrini and Carlo Chiti, left Ferrari to join Volpi and found ATS, Volpi's relationship with Enzo Ferrari cooled. Ferrari consequently refused to sell Volpi two 250 GTOs he requested for his GT team.[3]

Folllowing a disastrous 1963 Formula One campaign, where drivers Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti both failed to score championship points, ATS closed. Volpi subsequently continued with the Serenissima marque. Bruce McLaren used a Serenissima engine for a few Grands Prix in 1966.

Volpi is married to Dominique Rizzo and lives in Geneva.[4]

References
  1. "Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata". www.histouring.com. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  2. "Count Giovanni Volpi on creating the Breadvan and GTO (excellent read for collectors)". FerrariChat - The world's largest Ferrari community. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  3. Press, Porter (2018-10-25). "Bizzarrini - the Rebel, the Count and the Commendatore". Porter Press International. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  4. "Matrimonio tra il conte Giovanni Volpi di Misurata e la bella Dominique Rizzo". La Nuova di Venezia (in Italian). 2018-04-09. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  • Yates, Brock (1991). Enzo Ferrari, the Man, the Cars, the Races. New York: Duoubleday. p. 299. ISBN 0-385-26319-8.


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