Rinaldo Piaggio

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Rinaldo Piaggio

Rinaldo Piaggio (born July 15, 1864 in Genoa ; † January 15, 1938 there ) was an Italian entrepreneur and senator . He took over a sawmill founded by his father early on, which he developed into a manufacturer of marine and railway equipment within a few years. He diversified the company into a manufacturer of aircraft and engines and one of the largest Italian corporations at the time through acquisitions and license builds in the aviation sector.

life and work

Rinaldo Piaggio came from a family of Genoese entrepreneurs. At twenty Piaggio founded the company Piaggio in Sestri Ponente and took over his father's sawmill, which he converted into a company for the production of naval equipment. Just three years later, he expanded production.

Piaggio works for all Genoese shipyards, particularly closely with the Odero family shipyard. He married the owner's daughter, Niccolò Odero, and his father-in-law took over the shares in Piaggio's company from other partners in 1895. With further expansion of the company in the shipping space limited, Piaggio began building and repairing touring cars for Italian railroad companies. With his brother-in-law Attilio Odero , he founded a company in Finale Ligure in 1906 .

The First World War increased demand in the shipping and railroad sectors and opened up opportunities in the aviation sector . As a first step, Piaggio repaired military aircraft, in 1917 he took over an aviation company from Pisa and founded Piaggio Aerospace . At that time the city housed the 46th Air Brigade at the Dall'Oro military airport, the location proved to be ideal for further expansion in this area.

Thanks to its diversification, the company survived the difficult economic period after the First World War better than other companies. The difficulties in converting the company to the peace economy convinced Piaggio of the need to reorganize the company structure. In 1920 he converted the company into a stock corporation with Attilio Odero as president.

With the takeover of a plant in Pontedera , where he operated his own airfield , which was also used by the military , Rinaldo Piaggio began manufacturing engines, aircraft and vehicles based on his own developments. In addition to civilian applications, Piaggio also supplied the Italian army.

In politics, Piaggio stood up for the extreme right and founded the Associazione per Il Rinnovamento ( Union of Renewal ), which became part of the National Fascist Party .

Piaggio had two sons who inherited the company and brought the well-known Vespa brand scooter onto the market after the Second World War .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry in the database Senatori dell'Italia fascista at the Historical Archives of the Italian Senate .