Cover Story
Nowhere does the plant, man, grow more vigorously than in Italy.
Stendhal, 1826
IN the land of Michelangelo, Garibaldi and the Medicis there reigns a vast and unusual variety of contemporary heroes. The Italians idolize Grand Prix drivers, artists, novelists and occasionally Sicilian banditti. They fall barely short of adoring Nino Benvenuti, the boxing champion. They lavish attention on their celebrated movie directorsAntonioni, Fellini, Rossellini. And who, of course, could overlook Gina or Sophia?
To this colorful collection the Italians have lately added a less likely hero: the industrialist. He has earned national popularity...