Italian manager and writer (Rivarone, Alessandria, 1928 – Milan 2014). Graduated in Philosophy at the University of Pavia, he completed his education in History and Economics at the Institute of Historical Studies in Naples, the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and the MIT in Boston. In 1955 he began working at Olivetti, as head of the personnel office and then as a member of the board of directors (1980-82); his professional and personal experience alongside Adriano Olivetti was described by L. in the autobiographical text With Adriano Olivetti at the 1957 elections (1985). In the following years L. held other prestigious positions: president of Bastogi Sistemi S.p.A., managing director of Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A. (1982-89, an experience that inspired the autobiographical text Sette anni al Sole, 1994), member of the board of directors of the Banca provinciale lombarda (1984-89), vice-president and managing director of Rusconi editore (1989-91), extraordinary director of ENIT (1993-2000), president of INSUD, a financial company in the tourism sector controlled by the Treasury (1997-2000) and of the Touring Club Italiano (1992-2001), as well as honorary president of the Einaudi Foundation. L. combined his work as a manager with that of a writer, addressing philosophical, religious and socio-political themes in his essays (The Problem of Freedom in Kant, 1956; Man’s Work, 1973; Ethics and Work, 1988; From Utopia to Planning, 1997; The Religion of John Paul II, 1998; Jesus: Four Likely Lives, 2000; Liberal Democracy: Totalitarian Risks or Democratic Development, 2003), but also happily experimenting with the literary genre (A Chronicle, 1977; The Enclosures of the Gods, 1983; The Sign of Job, 1986; The Disturbed Demons, 1991).”