The Years of the Liondecades 1911-1950

36

1911

-192

0

United to Italy

IUnited to Italy

ficulties that had been affecting business for a

number of years, Generali’s results remained

excellent, to such an extent that even during

the war, in 1914, accounts closed with a profit

of over seven million Crowns and a dividend of

n the tense period prior to the outbreak of the

Great War, a new threat came from the introduc-

tion – in Italy – of a monopoly in the life insur-

ance business, a measure which aimed to limit

the domination of foreign companies, namely

Generali and RAS. While most operators pulled

out of the market and sold their portfolios to the

newly-established Istituto Nazionale delle As-

sicurazioni (INA), Generali carried on its activi-

ties within the new regulation. Despite the dif-

Italy introduces life insurance monopoly. The first life insurance policy issued by Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni (INA) in 1913: the illustrious sub-scriber was none other than Industry Minister Fran-cesco Saverio Nitti, the man behind the decision to make life insurance a state monopoly in Italy.

The art of poster-making. A poster of 1911 – bearing the Company’s symbol and financial highlights – and a painting by artist Achille Beltrame for the almanacs of the hail insurer Anonima Grandine, both showing the development of the Company’s corporate communica-tion over the years.

1911-1920 37

500 gold Francs was regularly paid. Italy’s entry into the con-

flict led to the immediate interruption of relations between

the Central and the Veneto Head Offices, while restrictions

were imposed on the Company’s activity in both countries.

The Austrian government ordered that part of the Central

Head Office be transferred to Vienna and disapproved of

the sympathy expressed by Generali employees for the Ital-

ian cause. The Austrians even threatened to seize Company

assets in order to avoid the transfer of funds abroad.

At the same time, pressure was mounting on the part of

competitors to ban Generali’s operations in Italy, just as

had already happened in both England and France. In this

1911 - The uprising against the Manchu dynasty spreads in the southern and central provinces of China: the following year, Emperor P’u-Yi abdi-cates and the republic is proclaimed.

In Mexico, the peasant upris-ing led by Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa succeeds in overthrowing dictator Porfirio Díaz.

Roald Amundsen is the first man to reach the South Pole.

1913 - The first novel of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and Thomas Mann’s short novel Death in Venice are published.

The first assembly line is set up at the Ford factory.

1914 - The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is opened under the administration of the United States. The Canal is approximately 51 miles long and 565 to 984 feet wide.

1916 - Emperor Francis Joseph dies; he had ascended the Austrian throne in 1848.

The Dada movement – an avant-garde artis-tic and cultural movement – is born.

1919 - Gabriele D’Annunzio occupies the Dalmatian port of Fiume (today Rijeka), where he establishes the “Ital-ian Regency of the Kvarner Gulf”.

1920 - Prohibition is de-clared in the United States.

Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the German Workers’ Party,

later renamed the National So-cialist German Workers’ Party.

Looking out

The Procuratie restored. Between 1909 and 1914, the Procuratie Vecchie building in Venice, which housed the Veneto Head Office, was radi-cally refurbished. The Company logotype was engraved on the glass panes of the façade.

The Titanic goes down. In the night of April 14, 1912, the ocean liner, on her maiden voyage, struck an iceberg and sank. Out of the 2,200 passengers aboard on that ill-fated journey, over 1,500 lost their lives.

1951

-196

0

The recovery38

1911

-192

0

Trieste is Italian. On November 3, 1918, a huge jubilant crowd celebrated the arrival of the Italian warship Audace at a pier in the port that has borne her name ever since.

The First World War

1914 - June 28: the Archduke of Austria Francis Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo. July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia; Russia imposes a state of general mobilisation.1915 - April 22: the Germans use poisonous gas against French troops in the trenches of Ypres in Belgium killing 5,000: this is the opening act of modern chemical warfare.May 24: Italy joins the war.1917 - October 24: the Italians are routed at Caporetto (the Slovenian town of Kobarid, near the Italian border).1918 - November 3: Italian troops enter Trento and Trieste; the armistice of Villa Giusti marks the end of the Hapsburg Empire.

The King in Trieste. On November 10, 1918, Victor Emmanuel III and General Diaz arrived unexpected in Trieste and were wel-comed with great enthusiasm by the local population.

1911-1920 39

Looking in

1914 - The restructuring of the Procuratie Vec-chie building – by this time, almost entirely owned by Generali – is completed. The refurbish-ment had started in 1909 in view of the expand-ing volume of business at the Company’s Vene-to Head Office

1915 - Following Italy’s entry into World War I, the Austrian authorities accuse Generali and a number of its officials of sympathising with the Italians.

1916 - The government in Rome grants Genera-li an Italian nationality certificate, allowing the Company to carry on business in the peninsula.

1917 - Following the Italian rout at Caporetto, the fear of Austrian reprisals in Venice leads the Company to transfer part of the Veneto Head Of-fice to Padua.

The Ca’ Corniani farm is flooded to slow down the Austrian advance.

1919 - Generali be-comes an Italian com-pany in all respects.

The share capital is converted into Liras.

1920 - Following Marco Besso’s death, Edgardo Morpurgo is appointed chairman.

light, the granting of an Italian nationality certif-

icate to Assicurazioni Generali with a Head Of-

fice in Venice, in 1916, was – to say the least –

providential. Following the Italian rout at Ca-

poretto, fears of Austrian reprisals in Venice led

the Company to transfer its Italian Head Office

to Padua, while business in the Entente coun-

tries, as well as in the marine sector, were han-

dled from Rome. On December 4, 1919, after the

end of the war, Assicurazioni Generali was able,

for the first time ever, to convene its sharehold-

ers’ general meeting in an Italian Trieste.

The Russian revolution. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks assaulted the Winter Palace in Petrograd (today St Petersburg). The following year, the last Tsar, Nicholas II, was put to death with his entire family.

War posters. During the war years, Beltrame’s paintings for Anonima Grandine focused on war themes.

The Italian nationality certifi-cate. Issued by the government on April 26, 1916, the document allowed Generali to continue op-erations in Italy.

Postwar problems40

1921

-193

0

F ollowing the end of World War I, Generali had to

face an unprecedented series of organisational,

administrative and financial problems. With the

fall of the Hapsburg monarchy, a previously uni-

tary body politic had splintered into a number of

independent countries, each with their own set

of laws, monetary systems and insurance regu-

lations. It therefore became necessary to set up

new organisational structures that could carry

Postwar problems

out operations in the various countries in a de-

centralised way. To this end, the main agencies

in the capital cities of newly independent coun-

tries (Vienna, Prague, Budapest and Warsaw)

were transformed into largely autonomous re-

gional head offices in charge of supervising the

sales network in the countries of operation. Par-

Europe’s new geopolitical map. The dissolution of the Central Empires led to the birth of a number of inde-pendent states, mainly in central-eastern Europe where Generali’s presence had always been well established.

The new countries. A poster published midway into the decade shows that Generali was thriving in Hun-gary. Above: the headquarters of Assicurazioni Gene-rali in Zagreb, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1921-1930 41

ticularly complicated was the monetary issue, as

many of the old currencies had been strongly

devalued and in some cases they were no longer

legal tender. Besides having to redefine previous

debit and credit items, in compliance with peace

treaties or interstate agreements, the Company

had to sustain the tremendous costs arising from

the radical devaluation of reserves, most of which

had been invested in government bonds. Posi-

tive developments, on the other hand, came in

the life insurance sector in Italy, where Generali’s

position was upheld by the government. The im-

plementation of an absolute monopoly, sched-

uled for April 1923, was revoked and the Compa-

1921 - The British Parliament recognises the Irish Free State as a dominion of the Empire: in exchange Ulster will remain under British rule.

The first electric refrigerator is invented.

1922 - James Joyce publishes Ulysses.

1923 - After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey becomes a republic under president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

1924 - After Lenin’s death, Stalin takes over and begins his rise to power in the Soviet Union.

1925 - Sergey M. Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin – which describes the mutiny of 1905 – and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush are screened for the first time.

1926 - Ernest Hemingway (Nobel prize in Litera-ture in 1954) publishes The Sun Also Rises, under

the original title of Fiesta.

1927 - Charles Lindbergh successfully accomplishes the first non-stop solitary flight across the ocean, from the United States to France.

Alfredo Binda wins the first road cycling World Championship.

1928 - The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, set in music by Kurt Weill, is an international success.

Alexander Fleming discovers the anti-biotic properties of penicillin.

1929 - The Oscar prize is established.

The Fascists climb to power. In Oc-tober 1922, the National Fascist Par-ty organised the “march on Rome”, a coup that ultimately brought Benito Mussolini to power as Prime Minister.

The crash of ‘29. The crash of the New York Stock Exchange triggered a major financial and economic crisis that, in a few months, led to a virtual halt of the industrial output worldwide and to the sacking of over 40 mil-lion employees.

ny was able to continue doing business regularly

albeit with the obligation to cede to INA a quota

share of its premium income. The improved eco-

nomic climate allowed Generali to take part in a

number of initiatives and investments in favour

of both the development of the insurance sector

and the economic reconstruction of the coun-

try. As countries abroad stabilised, Generali fur-

ther pursued its consolidation drive by investing

Looking out

Postwar problems42

1921

-193

0The Nobile expedition. On May 23, 1928, the airship Italia, commanded by General Umberto Nobile, crashed on the icy wastes of the North Pole. The survivors sought shelter in the Red Tent, which was ultimately spotted by search parties a month later. The crew was insured by an accident policy in which Generali held a significant share.

In the photos from top: air-borne Italia, the Red Tent and the rescue of General Nobile.

Dudovich and Generali. Generali’s corporate communica-tion was strengthened by the arrival of another great artist, Marcello Dudovich. The posters he designed for Generali over more than a decade are part of the history of poster-making in Italy. On the left: La Veneziana; below: Il Todaro sul molo di piazzetta San Marco.

in local companies or by establishing new ones.

In those years, over ten companies were set up,

mostly in central and eastern Europe but some

also in the Americas.

1922 - Generali takes part in the establishment of Unione Italiana di Riassicurazione, together with INA – the reinsurer’s main shareholder – and other major private companies.

1923 - The Italian Parliament revokes the imple-mentation of a life insurance monopoly, introduc-ing a regime of compulsory cessions in favour of the state insurer INA. Generali can thus continue to operate in this sector.

The company capital is increased from 13.23 million to 40 million Liras through a rights issue operation, while the nominal value of each share is reduced from 2,000 to 500 Liras.

1925 - Another operation, involving a one-for-two rights issue, raises the Company’s share capital to 60 million Liras.

Looking in

43

The chairmen

1920-1938Edgardo Morpurgo

(1866 - 1948)

1909-1920Marco Besso

(1843 - 1920)

1832-1835 Giovanni Ritter de Zahony

(1782 - 1838)

1938-1943Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata

(1877 - 1947)

1953-1956

Mario Tripcovich

(1893 - 1964)

1948-1953

Mario Abbiate

(1872 - 1954)

1943-1948

Antonio Cosulich

(1875 - 1957)

1956-1960

Camillo Giussani

(1879 - 1960)

1979-1991Enrico Randone

(1911 - 1998)

1968-1979

Cesare Merzagora

(1898 - 1991)

1960-1968

Gino Baroncini

(1893 - 1970)

1991-1995

Eugenio Coppola di Canzano

(1921 - 2006)

The chairmen

2001-2002

Gianfranco Gutty

(1938)

1995-1999

Antoine Bernheim

(1924)

1999-2001

Alfonso Desiata

(1933 - 2006)

2002

Antoine Bernheim

(1924)

44

1931

-194

0

A century of success

I n its centenary year – which was celebrated with

great éclat – Generali was a healthy company, in-

ternationally strong and with enviable finances.

The Company had survived virtually unscathed

local financial crises (such as the one that rocked

Austria in 1873 and the depression at the end of

the 19th century), a world conflict and even

the latest scare: the crash of 1929. It

could rely on reserves amounting

to 1.5 billion Liras and on real es-

tate and agricultural investments

A century of success

A prestigious achievement. Generali’s 100th anniversary was celebrated in May 1932. In Rome, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini attended the official celebrations organised by the Company (above), while in Trieste it was the Duke of Aosta who represented the Royal Family during the AGM (below). To mark the solemn occasion, Generali minted a coin and published a book on its history – which has proven extremely useful in retracing the early years of the Company.

1931-1940 45

worth nearly 300 million. The Company’s share

capital had risen from 13 million at the end of the

war to 60 million Liras and was soon to be doubled

through a free capital increase. Generali could also

record with pride that no dividend payment had

ever been defaulted, not even in the gloomiest pe-

riods. Fifty years after the creation of its first sub-

sidiary, the Group included some thirty compa-

nies, with new ones to be set up over the follow-

ing years in Italy, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Po-

land and the Netherlands. Real estate investment

was constantly pursued, to such an extent that the

overall worth of Generali’s assets amounted to over

700 million in 1939. In this context, fresh initiatives

were taken between 1933 and 1936 in the agricul-

tural sector, where five new farms increased total

1931 - Generali turns 100.

1932 - The solemn celebration in Rome is attended by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.

1933 - Generali acquires a majority stake in Alleanza, a company that will emerge as one of the main players in the life business over the following decades.

Fresh initiatives are taken in the agricultural sector, including the acquisition of the 2,300-hectare farm at Portonovo.

The Dopolavoro (after-work club) of Assicura-zioni Generali is established in Trieste, in line with the other recreational clubs promoted by the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (the Italian Fascist leisure and recreational organisation).

1934 - The nominal value of Generali shares is doubled and the share capital increases from 60 to 120 million Liras.

1937 - The central accounting department sets up an electromechanical accounting unit powered by modern Hollerith machines, thanks to the great mathematician Bruno de Finetti, formerly Generali employee and sub-sequently consultant of the Company.

1938 - Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata is appointed chairman.

1940 - Italy’s entry into World War II leads to the imme-diate severing of all contacts with Group companies and branches in France, England and in all Common-wealth countries.

Looking in

Generali city. The strong impetus given to real estate investment in the Thirties was forcefully repre-sented in this poster depicting an ideal “Generali city” through a pho-tomontage of the Company’s most prestigious buildings in the world.

Technology. The electromecha-nical accounting unit at the Cen-tral Head Office in Trieste was equipped with Hollerith tabula-ting machines, which represen-ted state-of-the-art technology in the Thirties.

Acquisition of Alleanza. With a view to expand-ing into the life business market, Generali acquired Alleanza Assicurazioni in 1933. The company had been established in Genoa in 1898.

1951

-196

0

The recovery46

1931

-194

0

The Twenties and the Thirties were the golden age of posters. These, starting as a medium of mass communication – one of the very first – soon attained the status of art. Generali, which in those years was in the process of re-launching its busi-ness after the war, extensively used this tool to pro-mote its products, calling on the most talented art-ists to design its posters. In the Thirties, the imag-es shown on posters, though relaying a convincing message of reassurance, were always somehow

linked to contemporary events. On this page: Con-tadina con fascio di grano – female farmer hold-ing a sheaf of wheat – (M. Dudovich, 1938), a sub-ject inspired by the government’s “Battle of Wheat”, launched with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency in the production of grain; Il ritorno del legionario – the return of the legionary – (G. Boccasile, 1937), which – although reflecting the rural character of the country – expresses not only the joy of home-coming but also the soldier’s pride in having tak-

en part in a truly significant deed. Following the conquest of Ethiopia and the proclamation of the empire, posters began to feature the environment and the symbols of Italian Oriental Africa, as in Il legionario e l’africano seminatori – the sowing legionary and African (M. Dudovich, 1937). Fi-nally, the poster of the 6° Campionato del mare (G. Rosa Salva, 1940), a rowing championship, evokes wartime memories with its motto “during the war sport is a must”.

The golden age of posters

1931-1940 47

land property by over 5,000 hectares. The constant

and rapid growth of business, organisation and as-

sets was matched not only by an upgrading of ad-

ministrative and managerial structures, but also

by greater investments in technology, which was

beginning to develop in those years. Already in

the early Thirties, a “pilot” automated device had

been utilised for the calculation of mathematical

reserves. This first, successful experiment led the

Company to set up an electromechanical account-

ing unit, equipped with Hollerith tabulating ma-

chines, supporting the central accounting depart-

ment and fulfilling the technical needs of the vari-

ous lines of business.

International expansion. On the eve of World War II, Generali had reached its maximum inter-national expansion, as clearly indicated in the above map. Opportunities for expansion came with the Italian colonial adventure in eastern Africa. The Italian conquests inspired highly original advertising campaigns, such as the brochures entitled I risparmi di Faccetta nera, below (literally: Little Black Face’s savings), written by Orio Vergani. On the right, the Generali agency in Addis Ababa, in Abyssinia.

Giuseppe Volpi di Misura-ta. In 1938, Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata was appoint-ed chairman of the Compa-ny. Born in Venice, Volpi di Misurata started his career as an entrepreneur in inter-national trade, energy and industry, after which he held a number of significant pub-lic posts: Governor of Tripol-itania (whose high uniform he is wearing in the portrait on the left), Senator and Fi-nance Minister.

48

1931

-194

0

A century of success

When World War II broke out in 1939, Assicurazi-

oni Generali was at its peak in terms of assets

and business expansion: the sales network in It-

aly could rely on over 3,000 agencies and sub-

agencies, Parent Company branches and region-

al head offices in 40 countries, and the Generali

Group included 60 companies.

Sustaining the industrial development. In the Thirties, Generali and its main subsidiaries actively took part in the initiatives carried out by the manufacturing sector, taking part in important exhibitions and trade fairs, in Italy and abroad, where the best of the country’s indus-

trial output was on show.

A popular sport. As passion for foot-ball grew in Italy – thanks also to the string of extraordinary successes of the all-vanquishing squad which won the World Cup in 1934 and 1938 and the Olympic Gold Medal in Berlin in 1936 – L’Agendina del Calcio (the Football Agenda) distributed by Gene-rali was a big hit with the public.

The dawn of mass motorisation.FIAT Balilla hit the roads in 1932. It was Italy’s first version of the utility car – “everyone’s car” as the ads put it.

Cartoons come to life. In 1937, nine years after creating Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney produced Snowhite and the Seven Dwarfs, the first ever feature-length animated film.

1931-1940 49

1931 - Japan invades Manchuria.

The Empire State Building is con-structed in New York.

1932 - Democrat Franklin D. Roo-sevelt is elected President of the United States and launches the New Deal to create jobs for over 12 mil-lion unemployed people.

Al Capone is arrested for tax eva-sion.

1933 - The National Institute for Social Security (INPS) is established in Italy.

1934 - In China, the People’s Communist Army led by Mao Zedong sets off on the Long March.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is pub-lished.

1936 - American black sprint-er Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Olympic Games in Berlin.

1937 - Italy joins the anti-Comintern pact formed in the previous year by Germany and Japan, and leaves the League of Nations.

1938 - During the Kristallnacht, a campaign of terror unleashed throughout the German Reich by the Nazi Party, many Jewish stores and houses are destroyed.

1939 - Gone with the Wind and Stagecoach are screened.

Looking out

Spanish civil war. In 1936, the military coup led by Francisco Franco against the republican government triggered a civil war that would last three years and bring Franco to power at the cost of a million dead. The horrors of the civil war were immortalised by Picasso in his masterpiece Guernica.

The rise of Nazism. In 1934, following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler (who had been made Chancel-lor the previous year), proclaimed himself Führer of the Third Reich, concentrating all powers in his hands.

The invasion of Poland. On Septem-ber 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland and united Danzig to the Reich. Two days later, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany: World War II had begun.

The losses of the Second World War50

1941

-195

0

Right from the outset, the Second World War

had disastrous effects on Generali’s activities.

All contacts were immediately lost in all ene-

my countries, while those with non-belligerent

states proved increasingly difficult. The USA’s

entry into the war led to the seizure of 2.5 mil-

lion Dollars, which the Company had not been

allowed to transfer. When the war reached Italy

in 1943, contacts with the operating structure

were seriously undermined: soon they were

limited to the North East, Piedmont and Lom-

bardy, while abroad the Central Head Office

maintained relations only with Austria and Ger-

many. Despite the

irremediable dete-

rioration of the situ-

ation, Generali was

able to close its an-

nual accounts and Italy divided. In 1943, war was fought on Italian soil: the Allied troops landed in Sicily and the German retreated putting up strong resistance. Following the

armistice signed by the Badoglio government, the Social Republic of Italy was set up in the North: the country was divided in two and Generali lost all contacts with its agencies in the South.

The end of the conflict. The red flag of the USSR is hoisted atop the Reich-stag: Berlin had fallen and Germany unconditionally surrendered in early May 1945. In the Far East, barely three months later, two atom bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender.

The losses of the Second World War

1951-1960 51

The Second World War1939 - September 1: Germany invades Poland. Two days later Britain and France declare war on Germany.1940 - June 10: Italy declares war on France and Britain.1941 - December 7: Japanese airplanes launch a surprise attack against the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.1943 - February 2: German troops are routed by the Red Army at Stalingrad.July 10: Anglo-American troops land in Sicily.July 25: in Italy, the Fascist regime falls and Mus-solini is arrested. A new government, led by Field Marshall Badoglio, takes office.September 8: the armistice between Italy and the Allies is announced; the country is severed in two.1944 - June 6: Allied forces land in Normandy.1945 - February 11: the conference between the three chief Allied leaders – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin – closes at Yalta (photo above).April 25: an insurrection breaks out in northern Italy; on the 28th of the same month, Mussolini is executed by the partisans.April 30: Hitler commits suicide; he is succeeded by Admiral Dönitz who, a few days later signs an unconditional surrender: the war in Europe is over.August 6: an atomic bomb is dropped over Hiro-shima; three days later another bomb flattens Nagasaki: Japan surrenders.October 24: the Charter of the United Nations, which had been approved earlier on June 26 at the San Francisco conference by the heads of state of fifty countries, comes into force.1946 - October 1: the Nuremberg trial comes to a close. Twelve death penalties are inflicted against German war criminals.1947 - Sixteen European nations endorse the European Recovery Program (ERP), also known as the Marshall Plan after the American Secretary of State who proposed it.

The uncertain destiny of Trieste. On May 1, 1945, Yugoslav partisan formations led by Marshall Tito, entered Trieste. During the 40-day occupation, the city and the entire Istria peninsula witnessed the unfolding of atrocities as thousands of Italian citizens were thrown

into karstic wells, known as foibe. After June 12, the control of Trieste was transferred to the Allied forces, which would administer the city until 1954. Faced with the city’s uncertain future, Generali decided to trans-fer its Registered Office to Rome. In the photos, from top: The Yugoslav flag flies over the Trieste Town Hall; ANZAC troops from New Zealand enter the city; searching for victims in the Basovizza foiba; Generali’s Central Head Office is partially con-fiscated by the Allied Military Gov-ernment.

The losses of the Second World War52

1941

-195

0

1943 - Harvard Professor Howard H. Aiken as-sembles the first electromechanical computing device, the Mark I, which is over 50 ft long and made up of almost 760,000 pieces.

1944 - With the Bretton Woods agreement, which establishes the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Develop-ment, the monetary system is pegged to the convert-

ibility of the US Dollar into gold.

1945 - George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an allegoric satire of Stalin-ism, is published.

1946 - After the Italian constitu-tional referendum of June 2, vot-ers – including, for the first time, women – choose the republic, bringing the monarchy to an end.

The first official television transmission is broad-cast in the United States.

1947 - Great Britain grants independence to In-dia, which is partitioned into the Indian Union, with a majority of Hindus, and Pakistan, with a large majority of Muslims.

1948 - After the proclamation of the state of Isra-el, Arab troops enter Palestine: it is the first Arab-Israeli war.

Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic.

1949 - Twelve countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portu-gal and the USA) sign the North Atlantic Treaty, which leads to the creation of NATO.

Ethologist Konrad Lorenz (Nobel prize in Medi-cine in 1973) publishes King Solomon’s Ring.

The plane carrying Torino Calcio crashes on Su-perga hill killing all the players who had domi-nated Italian football by winning five champion-ships in a row.

Looking out

to convene its shareholders’ meetings all the

way up to 1944. All corporate deadlines were

regularly met again immediately after the end

of the conflict, with the convening of the AGM

in 1946, when shareholders approved the 1944

financial statements. Slowly, relations were

once again resumed with the Company’s oper-

ating units, in Italy at first – where the crisis unit

in Rome had continued to co-ordinate activi-

ties in the centre and in the South – and then

abroad. After 40 days of Yugoslav occupation,

Trieste was separated from Italy and handed

over to the Allied Military Government for Oc-

cupied Territories. Due to the uncertainty over

the future of the city, Generali chose to trans-

fer its Registered Office to Rome in 1945, thus

formalising its position as an Italian company,

while the Central Head Office remained in Tri-

este. If material losses turned out to be less se-

Back to normal. The end of the war saw Europe under a heap of rubble, burdened by the weight of over 30 million dead. However, the desire to forget and to return to life was strong and all occasions, such as Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali’s cycling feats and fierce sporting rivalry at the Giro d’Italia and at the Tour de France, pro-vided a welcome diversion from the arduous task of living.

1941-1950 53

Resuming business: in Italy… With the end of the war, contacts between the Veneto Head Office and agencies in the South were re-established.… and abroad. Already by the end of the Forties, the extension of the Group’s network of interests had returned to pre-war levels, with the exception of all the assets definitively lost in central-eastern Europe, which were offset by a series of new acquisitions in South America. Above, Generali headquarters in Buffalo, USA.

rious than expect-

ed considering

the sheer violence

and extension of

the conflict, the or-

ganisational con-

sequences of the

war were dramat-

ic. All company assets in central and eastern Eu-

rope – especially those in Hungary, Czechoslo-

vakia, Poland and Romania, but also those in

Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania and East Germa-

ny – were irremediably lost. These included a

vast network of branch offices and agencies,

14 insurance subsidiaries (often leading play-

ers in the domestic scene), real estate compris-

ing 186 buildings and all other Generali assets

were seized as war damages or nationalised. In

the other markets, despite extreme difficulties,

reconstruction was launched and, by 1948, op-

1943 - Antonio Cosulich is appointed chairman.

Following the armistice announced on Septem-ber 8, the Company is no longer in contact with its agencies in central and southern Italy, where operations are co-ordinated by a special crisis unit set up in Rome.

1945 - The uncertain destiny of Trieste, which has been handed over to the Allied Military Govern-ment for Occupied Territories, leads Generali to transfer its Registered Office to Rome, while the Central Head Office is maintained in Trieste.

The end of the war brings about the loss of all company assets in central and eastern Europe, where incoming governments have nationalised insurance activity.

1947 - The share capital is increased from 120 million to 1.2 billion Liras. Successive rights issue operations will raise company capital to 4 billion.

Anonima Infortuni and Anonima Grandine are merged into Assicurazioni Generali.

1948 - Mario Abbiate is appointed chairman.

Following the acquisition of Providencia in Argentina, Generali once again expands activ-ity abroad, focusing its attention on markets overseas.

1950 - Generali takes over a controlling stake in Buffalo, an insurance company based in New York State.

Looking in

erations had resumed in most of western Eu-

rope, where all company assets had been re-

instated. The return to normality in the Mid-

dle East and overseas would take a few more

years, although the Company sought new

markets, focusing its attention on Latin Amer-

ica. In Argentina a branch office was opened

in 1948 and a majority stake in a local concern

was acquired, completing the expansion strat-

egy in that area, which already included op-

erating units in Brazil, Guatemala, Venezuela,

Ecuador and Colombia.

THE GENERALI GROUP’S EXPANSION IN AMERICA

THE GENERALI GROUP’S EXPANSION IN THE

MEDITERRANEAN AREA

54 After work… commitment to sports

After work… commitment to sports

S haring commitment to sports certainly con-

tributes to strengthening Group spirit and af-

ter-work clubs have played an important role in

this regard since the beginning of the 20th cen-

tury. In Italy, the Opera Nazionale Dopolavo-

ro was founded in 1925 by the fascist govern-

The European Marathon in Trieste, sponsored by Generali, attracts a large number of colleagues from different countries every year. In the pictures: two groups of athletes at the Generali Clubhouse terrace and before the start.

Passion for the mountains: a colleague of Generali Pojišt’ovna waves a flag with the Generali logo at a height of over 6,000 meters.

Since its foundation, the Trieste Generali Clubhouse has taken part in a large number of sports competitions. In the picture: the start of a cycle-tourist race.

ment, whereas the Dopolavoro of the Generali

Central Head Office can be traced back to 1933.

Over the following 75 years, the Lion was seen

in a large number of initiatives, with teams of

the numerous Generali Group clubhouses tak-

ing part in real sports competitions, amateur

challenges among the employees of different

Group companies and sporting performances

where personal satisfaction, rather than official

prizes, was the main reward.

2005: the Generali Hong Kong team wins the Ri-chards Butler Five-A-Side Football Competition – a prominent local amateur championship – for the second year in a row.

2005: the annual AMB Generali Cup is played among the football teams of the Group’s German companies and a repre-sentative team of the Ital-ian Central Head Office.

2007: bicycle riders of Ge-nerali Switzerland cover the 600 km distance and 10,000-meter discontinuity from Rapperswil to Venice in five days.

1997: the “flying lions” of the Milan Generali Club-house take a 1,200-km bi-cycle ride through Vienna and Prague, where they are welcomed by their lo-cal colleagues.

2007: the basketball teams of the Central Head Office and Generali France chal-lenge each other in Paris.

1998: double challenge in Barcelona, where the teams of Vitalicio and Assicurazioni Gene-rali in Trieste compete against each other in a football and basketball match.