Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, heir to the Italian Fiat automobile empire, has died in Turin from cancer at the age of 33.

The Agnelli family's press secretary announced that "Giovanni died of a rare form of intestinal cancer in his father's home. He has been undergoing treatment for it since March last year".

The son of Umberto Agnelli and Antonella Becchi Piaggio, and nephew of Fiat Honorary President Giovanni Agnelli, Giovanni was often called "Giovannino" to distinguish him from his famous uncle.

After finishing advanced studies in the United States, he began working as an assistant to the president of Piaggio, Fiat's motor scooter subsidiary in 1987 and worked his way up to become president himself in 1993.

He subsequently became a member of the Fiat board of directors and of the family's financial holding company, Ifi.

Giovanni Agnelli announced in 1995 that his nephew was "the most qualified" member of the family to succeed him as head of the Fiat group.

Avery Agnelli Howe, an American architect, married Giovanni in November 1996 in a chapel on the Agnelli estate at Verramista di Montoppoli Valdarno near Pisa.

Giovanni Alberto Agnelli and his wife had a baby girl on September 17, a few months after he underwent cancer treatment.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who was in Luxembourg for a European Union summit, expressed his "deep sadness" over Agnelli's death and sent his condolences to the Agnelli family, according to officials in Rome.

Italy's right-wing leader and media baron Silvio Berlusconi said his death was "a great loss also for the great hope for the future which he embodied."

In keeping with the wishes of Giovanni himself and of his next-of-kin, the funeral will be held in private.

The Agnelli dynasty is one of the richest families in Italy, owning a variety of enterprises. In addition to producing the famous Fiat cars, the family produces other automobiles, computers, and many other types of goods.
 

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