1. Alain Elkann is a writer for La Regle du Jeu, Nuovi Argomenti, A, and Shalom magazines.
12 Facts About Alain Elkann
1. 2.
Alain Elkann's Italian Jewish mother, Carla Ovazza, is from the influential Turinese Ovazza banking family; on 26 November 1975, she was a victim of kidnapping in Turin.
3.
Alain Elkann's uncle, Ettore Ovazza, had been an early financer of Benito Mussolini, of whom he was a personal friend, and Italian fascism, which he supported until the Italian racial laws of 1938; the founder of an anti-Zionist journal, La nostra bandiera, he was murdered in 1943 by Nazis, along with the rest of his family, whose bodies were burned in boiler of the schools of Intra, Italy.
4.
Alain Elkann's father, Jean-Paul Elkann, was a French Jewish industrialist, the chairman of Dior and the president of the Israelite Central Consistory of France, responsible for appointing the Chief Rabbis of France, from 1982 to 1992.
5.
Alain Elkann was a collaborator of important Italian writers, such as Alberto Moravia and Indro Montanelli.
6.
Alain Elkann wrote novels, essays, and articles, among which are a book he co-wrote with Italian Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, a former religious leader in Rome, called How to Be a Jew and Other Works and a book of conversation with him called The Messiah and the Jews.
7.
Alain Elkann published a book with Milan archbishop Carlo Maria Martini, as well as a book about Islam with Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.
8.
In 2010, Alain Elkann argued that all Jews should develop a strong connection to Israel.
9.
On 16 May 2008, Alain Elkann was appointed by the Italian government Adviser for Cultural Events and Foreign Relations to the Italian Minister Sandro Bondi.
10.
Alain Elkann received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2010.
11.
Alain Elkann was awarded Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in July 2009, and he received the Medaille de Vermeil award from the Academie Francaise in November 2010.
12.
In 1975, Alain Elkann married Margherita Agnelli, daughter of the deceased president of Fiat Gianni Agnelli, with whom he had three children; two were involved in their grandfather's company, with Lapo now in fashion, while his daughter is in the movie industry.