Giovanni Battista Giorgini
Giovanni Battista Giorgini, nicknamed Bista (Forte dei Marmi, 25 August 1898 - Florence, 2 January 1971), was an Italian entrepreneur and member of the Giorgini family. Early life and family Giovanni Battista Giorgini was a member of the Giorgini family, descending from a noble family from Lucca. His great-grandfather, Carlo, was a Deputy of the Kingdom of Italy; he was the brother-in-law of Vittoria Manzoni, the eighth daughter of the writer Alessandro Manzoni. His father, Vittorio Giorgini (1860-1919), helped his brother Alessandro in the family business in the marble trade. His mother, Florence Rochat (1860-1942) was Waldensian and originally from Francophone Switzerland. The boy grew up in a cultured and cosmopolitan environment, and he undertook classical studies at the University of Pisa with the intention of pursuing a diplomatic career. At the age of 17, he followed in his family's footsteps and enrolled as a volunteer in the infantry to participate in the First World War. Shocked by the horrors of the war, he promoted the Christian Youth Association, equivalent to the evangelical organization YMCA. The untimely death of his father Vittorio in 1919 forced him to take care of the family businesses, ranging from marble to the shipping sector.