Enrico Mattei

In the postwar years, Italy struggled with energy poverty: little coal, scarce hard currency to buy oil, and an industrial base to rebuild. Enrico Mattei turned that weakness into an ambitious project: harness Po Valley natural gas to power recovery, integrate the entire value chain under a public company, and strike fairer international deals that gave producing countries a larger share while loosening the grip of oil cartels. Within a few years, a web of gas pipelines took shape, along with a corporate culture betting on research, engineering, and communication, and an energy diplomacy that engaged Egypt, Iran, Libya, the Soviet Union, and Algeria amid decolonization. The trajectory earned broad domestic support and sharp international hostility, ending with Mattei’s sudden death. His legacy endures in infrastructure, know-how, and a vision of energy autonomy that, by opening to the Global South and challenging monopolies, continued to shape industrial and political choices long after his time.