She died at the age of 97 Julia Maria Crespi, the founder of the Italian Environment Fund (Fai). Her disappearance comes two months after that of her son Aldo Paravicini, who died at the age of 65 in a car accident probably caused by illness.
Born in 1923 in Merate, in the province of Lecco, from one of the most important industrial families in Lombardy, Crespi was the widow of Count Marco Paravicini and Guglielmo Mozzoni. In 1962 it became the property of the "Corriere della Sera", moving away from the direction of Giovanni Spadolini - who was replaced by Piero Ottone - and coming into conflict with Indro Montanelli. In 1973 he sold some shares of the property to Gianni Agnelli and Angelo Moratti, to then sell his share to the publisher Andrea Rizzoli the following year.
In 1975 he founded Fai with Renato Bazzoni, which over the years has saved a precious part of the Italian landscape, as well as villas, castles and woods.
In 2003 she was awarded the position of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and received an honorary degree in art history from the University of Bologna.
Andrea Carandini, president of Fai, today "is an event that marks a crucial moment in the history of the Foundation and a vein of infinite sadness in the soul of the Board of Directors, the committee of guarantors, the operational structure and the delegations of Fai, which in with unanimous gratitude they dedicate the most moved tribute. The clarity of her teaching, the path traced, the style and the enthusiasm instilled in everything she did indicate without uncertainties the path that FAI is called to follow for the good of the country, set in the mission that she helped to define".
Il You do "suffers for the disappearance of the founder Giulia Maria Crespi - reads the official note of the Fund - Reassured by the development of the Foundation in terms of managed assets, landscape and heritage, she had reserved the delegation for the environment, worried about the health of nature and of man. Fai has translated her indications into virtuous practices in the field of goods and in the education of sustainable customs and will always feel this last spur by her side ”.
