{{short description|Italian businessman}} [[Image:UgoGobbato.jpg|thumb|Ugo Gobbato]] '''Ugo Gobbato''' ([[Volpago del Montello]], 16 July 1888 – [[Milan]], 28 April 1945) was an Italian engineer and Managing Director of [[Alfa Romeo]] 1933 to 1945.
Gobbato studied in Germany where he graduated in mechanical engineering at the [[Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau - University of Applied Sciences Zwickau|Technical University]] of [[Zwickau]] in [[Saxony]]. After having fulfilled his military service between 1915 and 1918 during [[World War One]],<ref name="quattroruote.it">{{Cite web|url=http://www.quattroruote.it/news/eventi/2009/12/18/un_innovatore_senza_epoca.html|title=Ugo Gobbato: Un inventore senza epoca|access-date=2011-01-03|year=2009|work=quattroruote.it}}</ref> he was hired by [[Fiat]] in Turin and was appointed the first director of the [[Lingotto]] factory. From 1929 to 1931 he oversaw the construction of Fiat factories in Germany and Spain. In 1931, Fiat founder and senator [[Giovanni Agnelli]] (1866–1945) entrusted Gobbato with the construction of the first Fiat factory in [[Moscow]]. Gobbato moved with his family to Moscow, where he lived for over two years.
In 1933 Gobbato moved back to Italy, when the government and the [[Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale]] (IRI) gave him the task of reorganizing [[Alfa Romeo]] which at the time was on the brink of bankruptcy. From 1938 he directed the development of a new factory in [[Alfa Romeo Pomigliano d'Arco plant]] outside [[Naples]], which had been bombed in 1943.<ref>''[https://www.museoalfaromeo.com/en-us/storia/Pages/guerre.aspx Between two wars]'' from www.museoalfaromeo.com.</ref> Towards the end of [[World War Two]] Gobbato was relocated to Milan. Gobbato led the company until the end of the [[Italian Civil War]], when he was assassinated by one of Alfa Romeo's workers, Antonio Mutti, in Milan on 28 April 1945.<ref name="quattroruote.it"/> He was followed as Alfa director by Pasquale Gallo (1887–1982).
In 1916 Gobbato married Dianella Marsiaj. Their son, [[Pier Ugo Gobbato]] (1918–2008), was a racing driver.<ref>''[http://www.aisastoryauto.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Aisa-86FINALE.pdf Pier Ugo e Ugo Gobbato. Due vite per l'Automobile]'' by Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell'Automobile.</ref> The football stadium in [[Pomigliano d'Arco]] is named after him.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Literature == *Marino Parolin, ''Ugo Gobbato - La leggenda di un innovatore senza epoca'', Volpago del Montello, 2009 (see [http://www.gobbatougo.it/ gobbatougo.it], the book's homepage)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gobbato, Ugo}} [[Category:20th-century Italian businesspeople]] [[Category:Italian automotive pioneers]] [[Category:Alfa Romeo people]] [[Category:1888 births]] [[Category:1945 deaths]] [[Category:Assassinated Italian people]] [[Category:People murdered in Lombardy]] [[Category:People assassinated in the 20th century]]