Gianni Agnelli

Well, Italy had been overrun by the War, there had practically been civil war, north and south of the Gothic read more

Well, Italy had been overrun by the War, there had practically been civil war, north and south of the Gothic Line, heavy bombing, the northern industrial cities had been bombed heavily and we had political disorder before 1948.

And the buying of new machinery meant not only the possibility of production, but even the new technology, 'cos as read more

And the buying of new machinery meant not only the possibility of production, but even the new technology, 'cos as I mentioned before, we were back of seven, eight years.

Well, the Communists at that moment were very strong in Italy and the Italian Communist Party was the biggest Communist read more

Well, the Communists at that moment were very strong in Italy and the Italian Communist Party was the biggest Communist Party outside Soviet Union, there's no doubt about that.

And I don't say that we didn't expect it, but we were pleasantly surprised to see the generosity of their read more

And I don't say that we didn't expect it, but we were pleasantly surprised to see the generosity of their foreign policy; and the generosity of their foreign policy at that moment was expressed through the Marshall Plan.

Now between '45 and '48, things would change enormously, 'cos we'd had credit in United States, credit from the Bank read more

Now between '45 and '48, things would change enormously, 'cos we'd had credit in United States, credit from the Bank of America, credit from the Import-Export Bank and people had started working again.