He could be dead, but life is too good for him. In Lapo Elkann, the Italians have someone who the Americans lack in the Kennedy clan: sex, drugs, lifestyle, this Fiat grandson is everything but a bird in a gold cage.
Initially, Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli had to get upset posthumously because Silvio Berlusconi drove up to his funeral in an Audi – January 2003, Italy is bawling its eyes out, its “true king” has just died. A year later, the dead man turns over again in the coffin. Lapo Elkann, of all people, his favorite grandson, reworked the Fiat logo as marketing and brand manager, and boosted the brand with clothes, cafés and stuff that the “Avvocato” would never have approved. But there are also those who say that without Elkann’s instincts (the Cinquecento rebirth is down to him), the Turin-based car company would have degenerated into something like Saab, or at least seemingly dead.
Sex and drugs and tradition
Then the 11. October 2005. How loudly it creaks in the Agnelli family crypt when Lapo crashes into a coma with a heroin-coke-fast overdose, you get the idea. Funny, the handsome Fiat “crown prince” is found in the apartment of a transsexual before being taken away. Drugs, well, even the old man had his experiences – Agnelli’s nose bone consisted almost entirely of gold, cocaine eats more than money. In the arms of a transsexual, man Lapo, Italy! By the way, there is another way to cultivate a playboy image. Yet the redhead had got off to a flying start before the Gau: As the son of Gianni’s sister Margherita and the publicist Alain Elkann, he grew up in France, studied international relations in London and then even assisted elder statesman Henry Kissinger. And the Beau had raised high hopes with his debut at the car giant. Lapo Elkann could actually be Ferrari, Alfa, Fiat and Everybody’s Darling all rolled into one.
On your own
During his rehab in Arizona, his brain started thinking again, and the result: Italia Independent. Since 2006, the New Yorker-by-choice has been presenting exclusive sunglasses, a bit of fashion, chic and expensive. The 32-year-old also invests some of his millions in the volleyball club Sparkling Milano, which is not as sexy as his grandfather’s Juventus Turin hobby, but it is appealing. Elkann’s activities signal that the man is living what he wants. Is the free spirit a designer? He meets up with such people and turns his Manhattan penthouse into a neo-Warhol factory. “I like the exchange of creative energy. Ideas come from interaction.” – In other words, he leaves the designing to others. Oh, and Elkann’s reputation is not really over. Vogue ruler Anna Wintour calls him the “most elegant man on the planet”. This comes much closer to the title “favorite grandson”.
Sideline: The Kennedys from the boot
Without Giovanni Agnelli senior (1866-1945), founder of the Italian car industry, there would be no Fiat. His grandson Gianni (1921-2003) took over, his father Edoardo had died in an airplane accident, his mother in the car. Gianni Agnelli made the Turin-based company the most important in Italy. For decades, the stylist was considered a hotly tipped playboy; he said yes to Vogue photographer Marella Caraccioli di Castagneto. Lapo Elkann’s mother Margherita comes from this liaison. Gianni Agnelli’s only son fell from the bridge and his nephew Giovanni Alberto died of cancer. The patriarch’s brother took over briefly, and Umberto died in 2004.