Ugo Veniero Dannunzio

Vocation

Family

Italian engineer and entrepreneur from a noted family, as the third child of Gabriele D'Annunzio and the Roman aristocrat Maria Hardouin of Gallese, whom the poet had married in 1883. Rumours circulated that he was born from an adulterous relationship with the deceased Senator Vincenzo Morello-Rastignac. Having spent his childhood and adolescence in Rome and then in Paris and Zurich, he graduated in mechanical engineering at Zurich Polytechnic in 1909, then worked in Switzerland and in Italy where he was called to arms in 1914. Ending his service in the aeronautical section at the Caproni workshops, he headed a mission sent by the firm to Detroit in the United States in 1917-1919. He returned for some time to Italy, hired as a designer by Isotta-Fraschini's automotive company, later returning to the United States as a representative of the same company. In 1928, he became the Director and vice president of the American Aeronautical Corporation of Enea Bossi, contributing to the company's success. In 1930 he became an American citizen. Alongside his business interests, Ugo Veniero made a strong political commitment in support of Italian nationalism, first supporting his father as one of the celebrities, together with Enrico Caruso and Giovanni Caproni, present at the great gathering in 1920 at the City College Stadium in New York, which attracted thousands of people to celebrate the anniversary of the Fiume business. Even more directly, especially in the 1930s, he was a coordinator of the propaganda activities of the Fascist regime in the United States, all focused on supporting the feelings and nationalistic pride of Italian immigrants. He died on 22 April 1945, aged 57, in New York. Link to Wikipedia biography (Italian)