Enrico Mattei - Legacy

Legacy

Enrico Mattei is a controversial figure in Italian 20th century history. Mattei made ENI a powerful company, so much so that Italians dub it "the state within the state." Some describe him as a sort of paladin, a nationalist, while others point to his hunger for power, and his cold calculating nature. The doubts about his possible murder, however, are more compelling than the theory of a technical accident.

Mattei coined the term "Seven Sisters" to refer to the dominant oil companies of the mid-20th century. In 2000, the Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline from Algeria via Tunisia to Sicily and thence to mainland Italy, was named after Enrico Mattei. ENI named a research institute after Mattei. The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of sustainable development and global governance. FEEM’s mission is to improve the quality of decision-making in public and private spheres.