Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi


Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi is an Italian businessman and philanthropist, currently President of Valsoia, an Italian health food company. He is president of the Italian Advertisers Association, President of the Milan Institute for Contemporary Arts, Vice-President of the Italian National Federation of Cavalieri del Lavoro and holds board-level positions on a number of regional industrial associations and charities. On 22 May 2015, Sassoli de Bianchi was honoured for his services to enterprise with the Italian knighthood of Cavaliere del Lavoro, presented by the President of Italy His Excellency Sergio Mattarella.

Education and early career

Born in Paris in 1952, Sassoli de Bianchi graduated in medicine at Bologna University, where he subsequently worked as a neurologist specialising in sleep diseases while studying Art History and Criticism at UIA University, Florence.
In 1986, Sassoli de Bianchi joined the Board of Directors of the family company, distillers Buton, the makers of Vecchia Romagna brandy, where he was appointed Chief Executive Officer later in the year.
Sassoli De Bianchi founded the health food company Valsoia in 1990. The company went public in 2006.

Other responsibilities

Sassoli de Bianchi has been President of the Italian Advertisers Association since June 2007.
Past responsibilities include Vice Chairman of Bologna's Business Association from 2004 to 2007, Board Member of the Bologna development agency Promo-Bologna from 2003 to 2007, of UniCredit Bank from 2012 to 2015 and of the Bologna Film Library from 1995 to 2000.
He was appointed President of the Bologna Museum of Modern Art in 1995, 2009 and 2013. In 2015, when the Museum - together with many others in the city - came under the control of the newly formed Bologna Musei, the body responsible for 13 of Bologna's museums, including the Bologna Museum of Modern Art, the Morandi Museum and the Bologna Archaeological Museum, Sassoli de Bianchi was appointed President of this body.
From 2001 to 2015 he was also Vice Chairman of the Emilia Romagna Region Ministerial Commission for Culture and the Arts, and has since 1990 been a Member of the Governing Board of the Bologna Festival Musical Association.
On 30 November 2016, he stood down as President of Bologna Musei. On 12 December 2016, he was made an acting member of the Bologna Academy of Art.

Charitable Commitments

Sassoli de Bianchi's charitable commitments include board-level positions on two eminent charities, the Fondazione del Monte, which provides support in the areas of social solidarity, community development, scientific research and the arts and culture, and the Centro San Domenico cultural association.

Art Criticism

An art lover and critic, Sassoli de Bianchi has published widely on modern and contemporary art, with essays on, amongst others, Raul Dufy, Salvator Dalí, Giorgio Morandi, Julian Schnabel, Zhang Xiaotao and Feng Zhengjie. Among the first to bring Chinese contemporary art to the attention of the West, he is the author of the books China: contemporary painting, From Heaven to Earth and Pu Jie. He also contributed the introduction and two essays to the book Primary on the artist Feng Zhengjie.
Sassoli de Bianchi was the curator of the 2009 Pu Jie exhibition in Beijing.

Honours

Italian knighthood of Cavaliere del Lavoro presented for services to enterprise by the President of Italy, His Excellency Sergio Mattarella, on 22 May 2015.