Franzo Grande Stevens (born 13 September 1928) is an Italian lawyer. Grande Stevens is famous for being the lawyer of the Agnelli family, and he was one of the triad of longtime advisors of Gianni Agnelli. He continues to advise his grandson and heir John Elkann. He served as chairman of Juventus F.C. from 2003 to 2006.
Early life
Born in Naples, he is the grandson of tycoon Franzo Grande. Of Anglo-Sicilian-Neapolitan origin, one branch of the family is from Avola, while the other is English, and to this he owes the second part of the surname. Grande Stevens lived his adolescence in Naples, where he obtained his liceo classico diploma and jurisprudence degree at the Federico II University, where he was a pupil of . Having exhausted the experience of the apprenticeship alongside the lawyer Francesco Barra Caracciolo di Basciano, he moved to Turin, where he became a consultant of Gianni Agnelli, the president of Fiat S.p.A. He held positions in several large Italian companies, such as , and was also the president of the and the vice-chairman of Fiat.
Career
Enrolled in the Register of Lawyers () since 1954, Grande Stevens became one of Agnelli's trusted persons; he was vice-chairman of Fiat, the company owned by Agnelli. Like before him, he was nicknamed "the lawyer's lawyer". In 1976, he participated as public defender in the trial of the historical leaders of the Red Brigades, together with the president of the council of the Turin bar association, Fulvio Croce, who was later assassinated by the Red Brigades. He wrote Vita d'un avvocato, published by Cedam in 2000, more than twenty years after the murder of Croce, about the affair.
Over time, Grande Stevens followed the corporate events of the most important industrial groups in the country, often holding managerial positions within them. He was chairman () of Toro Assicurazioni, CIGA hotels, the , and from 1985 to 1991 also of the . He held the presidency of the Compagnia di San Paolo and sat on the boards of directors of and RCS MediaGroup. Among his clients were the likes of Carlo De Benedetti, Luigi Giribaldi, Aga Khan IV, and Adriana Volpe, and companies like Ferrero, Pininfarina, and Lavazza.
Juventus F.C. In August 2003, Grande Stevens succeeded Caissotti di Chiusano, who had died on 31 July 2003, as chairman of the board of directors of Juventus F.C., the Agnelli family-owned association football club in Turin. Grande Stevens held the position until he was replaced by Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, amid the Calciopoli scandal, in 2006; he was made honorary chairman () of the club including former Juventus player Giampiero Boniperti. As of the 2022–23 Juventus F.C. season, he remains one of the club's honorary chairmen.
His role in the aftermath of Calciopoli is questioned. The scandal itself remains a much-debated topic due to the one-side focus on Juventus and its harsh, unprecedented punishment. Some observers allege that Calciopoli and its aftermath were also a dispute within Juventus and between the club's owners, including Grande Stevens and Gianluigi Gabetti who favoured John Elkann over Andrea Agnelli as chairman, and wanted to get rid of Luciano Moggi, Antonio Giraudo, and Roberto Bettega, whose shares in the club increased. Whatever their intentions, it is argued they condemned Juventus, firstly when Carlo Zaccone, the club's lawyer, agreed for relegation to Serie B and point-deduction, and secondly when Luca Cordero di Montezemolo retired the club's appeal to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Lazio, which could have cleared the club's name and avoid relegation, after FIFA threatened to suspend the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) from international play; then FIFA president Sepp Blatter personally thanked Montezemolo. As a company, Juventus were acquitted in the Calciopoli trials.