Luigi Einaudi
The ethical imprint of the founder
The writer Ennio Flaiano, who was a guest of the President at an official dinner in the early 1950s, relates:
“At the end of a dinner at the Quirinale, the butler brought in a huge tray with some very large pears. Luigi Einaudi looked at them a little surprised, then sighed. I would take a pear, he said, but they are too big, will anyone share one with me? Everyone was taken aback and
instinctively looked at the butler: he had turned bright red…
However, I defused the situation: I will, President…
The president cut the pear, the butler put half on a plate and placed it before me as if it contained half of the head of John the Baptist
Just a few lines are enough to evoke the character of Luigi Einaudi, the historic founder of the winery that bears his name, as well as being the first democratically elected President of the Republic.
In cutting that fruit, he displayed the pragmatism, sobriety and Piedmontese thrift, as well as the bond with his country origins, that marked his entire life.
But Einaudi was also an economist: when, in 1897, as a young man without means, he bought his first farm in San Giacomo in Dogliani, it wasn‘t just out of nostalgia for the past and his origins. He was convinced that agriculture could lead Piedmont out of the crisis of those years.
Relaunching the territory of the Langhe and making it grow would improve the lives of the people who lived there.