Born in Vasto in 1895, Raffaele Mattioli was appointed General Secretary of the Milan Chamber of Commerce at just 27 years old. Three years later, he joined Banca Commerciale Italiana, where he spent the rest of his professional career, becoming its President for the final 12 years before retiring in 1972.
One of the most prominent Italian bankers of the 20th century, Mattioli firmly believed in the role of banks in supporting businesses and fostering their growth, encouraging them to think big, make significant leaps in quality and size, and thus contribute to Italy’s economic development.
He was also acutely aware of the inherent structural challenges within Italian capitalism, which lacked sufficient capital and self-sufficiency, and thus believed in the need for state intervention. This led to the creation of the IRI (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction), which drove Italy’s economy for the following 70 years. Mattioli was also the first financier of Enrico Mattei’s AGIP projects. Mattei, although originally from the Marche region, had spent his youth in Vasto, graduating from the city’s Regio Istituto Tecnico.
Mattioli is often remembered as the “humanist banker” for his active promotion of numerous cultural initiatives, particularly in the fields of economic history, literature, architecture, and the arts.
In 1938, he took over the Riccardo Ricciardi publishing house in Naples, which published numerous works by Benedetto Croce during the war. In 1947, at Croce’s home and library in Naples, he established the Italian Institute for Historical Studies, becoming its president after Croce’s death. This graduate school, offering scholarships to both Italian and international young researchers, played a pivotal role in shaping an entire generation of nationally and internationally renowned historians. Throughout fascism and beyond, Mattioli supported publishers and literary magazines.
One of the most enduring aspects of Raffaele Mattioli’s legacy is his efforts to save many lives during the persecution of Jews under the anti-Semitic laws of 1938.
After the 1929 Wall Street crash, Banca Commerciale Italiana was nationalized, and with the implementation of racial laws in 1938, it became legally impossible for around 70 Jewish employees to retain their jobs. However, Mattioli ensured that the most promising young employees were assigned to overseas offices, with plans to bring them back to Italy after the war. For those employees who could not emigrate, he secured early retirement with generous financial packages. It’s no wonder Mattioli proudly referred to himself as an “honorary Jew.”
Upon his death, Mattioli was buried at the Monks’ Cemetery of the Abbey of Chiaravalle. His children donated the family palace to the city of Vasto, along with a library collection of over 3,800 volumes, which became the foundation for the city’s public library, later moved to the Stables of Palazzo Aragona.