VOLPI, COUNT GIUSEPPE (1877— ), Italian man, was born at Venice on Nov. 19, 1877. In his youth he travelled extensively in the Balkans and the East, taking special note of local economic problems. In 1912 he was employed in the preliminary negotiations for the Peace of Lausanne, which assured for Italy the possession of the Dodekanese, and was one of the Italian delegates at Ouchy. In 1913 he was vice-president of the Balkan financial conferences. Volpi was a great figure in Italian industry and finance; he originated the proposal for the develop ment of the port of Venice, and executed the hydroelectric scheme in the Veneto, and in part of Emilia and Venezia Giulia.
During the World War, Volpi, who was a keen interventionist, served on the Monfalcone front. In 1919 he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council in Paris, in 1921 governor of Tripoli tana, where he remained until 1925. He carried out a successful
campaign in 1922-23, and then established peace and carried out a bold programme of economic reconstruction. For his services he was created Count Volpi of Misurata. Volpi was chairman of the Associazione fra la Societa Italian per Azione, and was the trusted representative of Italian commerce and industry. These considerations and his success in Tripoli led Mussolini to ap point him minister of finance in July 1925, when the dissatisfac tion with Stefani's finance administration was acute. Volpi con cluded the arrangements for the settlement of the Italian debt to America (Nov. 12, 1925), and to Great Britain ( Jan. 27, 1926).