April 25th evokes the memory of theft of gold from the Bank of Italy during the occupation of Rome in 1943. The inclined plane of events that made the governor of the time, Vincenzo Azzolini, a controversial figure was set in motion immediately after the armistice of 8 September, when the German command in Rome planned the transfer of the Bank of Italy’s gold to Germany. Azzolini learned on 19 September that the following day a German delegation would show up at Palazzo Koch. With the decisive help of the general director Niccolò Introna, says Federico Fubini in his “L’oro e la patria” (Mondadori 2024), Azzolini had a walled-up room built during the night to hide a good part of it. To quickly dry the moisture and paint, bank officials turned on lamps and fans.
At this point the historical reconstructions of what happened differ. One version reports that he was an informer who changed Azzolini’s mind: if the Germans were already aware of the deception, lying would have been useless. To protect his own safety and that of the other men in the bank, to avoid bloody reprisals, the governor handed over the gold. The other version is more severe towards Azzolini who would have had the wall removed, scared of the terrible consequences that he would have to endure if the Germans had noticed the trick.
Whatever the truth, on 20 September Azzolini accompanied Ambassador Moelhausen and Colonel Kappler on their reconnaissance tour. 626 boxes containing ingots worth approximately 120 tons and 543 bags of coins were delivered. The first armored train left on the night between 22 and 23 September, others followed heading towards Switzerland and Germany. Part of the gold was hidden in the Fortezza area in Alto Adige, an Italian territory governed by a German Gauleiter.
In May 1945 the Allies returned the stolen gold, Azzolini was removed from office and arrested. He underwent a trial and was sentenced to thirty years for “serious crime”, he was then acquitted of the charges and released in 1948, he died in Rome in 1967. Azzolini was a good governor, upon the death of Bonaldo Stringher he was appointed unanimously by the Superior Council of the Bank of Italy, it was 1931, the year in which the international monetary system fell apart and the repercussions of the Great Depression also arrived in Italy. Together with Introna he was among the architects of the banking reform of 1936 and of the function of the Bank of Italy as we know it today, but his professional history intersects with the events of 1943 which still make him a controversial figure today.
With the removal of Azzolini it was up to Luigi Einaudi to deal with the post-war monetary disaster, his agenda was made up of three simple and very complicated priorities: combating inflation, bringing Italy back into the Bretton Woods monetary agreements, ensuring stability monetary. If Italy is the country with the fourth largest gold reserve in the world, the reasons date back to the choices made in these dramatic years.
Einaudi, De Gasperi, Corbino, Del Vecchio: people from another era and from another lineage, old bourgeoisie who had clear ideas in their heads and who knew how to put the general interest of the country before spendthrift demagogy. They did not hesitate to challenge the Americans, and the opposition, who asked that financial aid be channeled entirely to the reconstruction of industrial plants. Einaudi’s deflationary policy put financial stability first and the reconstruction of the country’s currency reserves was instrumental to the objective of restoring international credibility to Italy and bringing the country back into the Western economic system. Einaudi rehabilitated the honor of the Bank of Italy, inaugurated the tradition of the Final Considerations, contributed to raising the prestige of the central Institute.
Carlo Benetti, Market specialist GAM Italia
