Baron Alberto Fassini (1875–1942) was an Italian

business tycoon A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Fassini owned a large synthetic

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

company, and was close to the regime of the dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

. He owned the Palazzo Tittoni where Mussolini lived from 1923 to 1929.

Film industry

Fassini was connected with the Italian production company

Cines The Società Italiana Cines (''Italian Cines Company'') is a film company specializing in production and distribution of films. The company was founded on 1 April 1906. A major force in the European film industry before the First World War, the c ...

during the 1910s. In 1919 he was the driving force behind the creation of

Unione Cinematografica Italiana The Unione Cinematografica Italiana (UCI) was an Italian film production and distribution consortium of the silent era. Following the end of the First World War, a group of eleven leading Italian companies joined forces in a single conglomerate ...

(UCI), a conglomerate of leading studios which became the largest producer in the country and aimed to compete with major international companies, particularly those in Hollywood. In 1921 UCI was badly damaged by the collapse of the

Banca Italiana di Sconto The Banca Italiana di Sconto (BIS) was a leading Italian bank that went bust in 1921. One firm hit by its collapse was the giant film production conglomerate Unione Cinematografica Italiana The Unione Cinematografica Italiana (UCI) was an Ita ...

, which had been a major investor. By this time Fassini had left to join the board of an American shipping company.Moliterno p.320

References

Bibliography

* Moliterno, Gino. ''Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2008. * Margherita Sarfatti & Brian Sullivan. ''My Fault: Mussolini As I Knew Him''. Enigma Books, 2013. 1875 births 1942 deaths Italian film producers People from the Province of Asti 20th-century Italian businesspeople People from Moncalvo {{Italy-film-bio-stub