L’oro e la patria by Federico Fubini. The author in conversation with John Foot
Friday 7 June, 6.30pm at ICI London
A page of Italian history told by the deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera
20 September 1943: a group of Nazi officers enters Palazzo Koch, the elegant headquarters of Banca d’Italia in Rome, and demands the gold. All the gold. The Banca d’Italia. Nearly 120 tons of gold is stored in the bank’s caveau. Only one man, 75 years old Niccolo’ Introna, decides to resist and organises a sophisticated hoax to stop the Nazis from stealing the Italian riches.
Federico Fubini has retraced this fascinating story by accessing over 80 thousand pages of documents, many top secret, that Introna kept during all his life, that show the real story of the Banca d’Italia’s gold and how it was saved thanks to the tenacity and honesty of one man only.
Book your place HERE
Federico Fubini is a correspondent and economy editor of the Corriere della Sera, as well as deputy editor ad personam. He is the author of several books, including Noi siamo la rivoluzione (2012, winner of the Premio Estense), La via di fuga (2014) and La maestra e la camorrista (2018), all published by Mondadori
John Foot is Professor of Modern Italian History at the School of Modern Languages, University of Bristol. A renowned historian, Professor Foot spent twenty years in Milan in the 1980s and 1990s and specialises in twentieth century and contemporary Italian history on which he has published extensively. His publications include: Milan Since the Miracle; Calcio. A History of Italian Football; Italy’s Divided Memory; Pedalare! Pedalare!; The Man Who Closed the Asylums and, more recently, The Archipelago. Italy since 1945. Professor Foot is also a regular contributor to The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement and History Today.