President of the Foundation from 1 January 1997 to 1999
Vice President of the Foundation in 1996
Member of the Steering Committee for over twenty years

Feliciano Benvenuti was born in Padua on 26 January 1916 and received a degree in law in 1939. He was a full professor and chair of the Faculty of Political Science in Padua, professor of law at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and of economics and business administration in Venice. He was rector of the University of Venice from 1974 to 1983.
He was named Professor emeritus at the University of Venice, Honorary Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester, Honorary degree holder at the Universitt Eotvos Lorand of Bucharest and President of the Governing Committe of the Faculty of Economics and Financial Sciences in Udine.
He served as First Procurator of St Mark and President of Palazzo Grassi S.p.A. of Venice and held responsibilities within the International Institute of Comparative Music Studies of Venice, the Institute for Research into the Social and Religious History of Vicenza, the International Center for marine sciences and tecnologies of Venice and the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts. He was a member of the Accademia Olimpica of Vicenza, the National Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Modena, the Academy of Agriculture, Sciences and Letters of Verona and the National Council for Cultural and Environmental Heritage.
Benvenuti held various responsibilities at financial and economic institutions.
He was conferred honours including: Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Italy), Medaglia d’oro dei benemeriti della cultura e dell’arte (Italy), Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (France), Official of the Orden de Rio Branco (Brasil), Machado de Assis medal of the Accademia brasileira de Letras (Brasil).
He began collaborating with the Giorgio Cini Foundation in1962. During the two years in which he was President he established contacts and collaborations with various outside entities and institutions, creating new synergies and broadening the Foundation’s field of action. Among the numerous activities for which he is to be remembered are the re-opening of Teatro Verde, made possible through an agreement with Venice Biennale, and, in collaboration with the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, CNR and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Venice, the foundation of the School of San Giorgio, a post-graduate study centre for the conservation of rare cultural heritage.
Feliciano Benvenuti died on 16 July 1999.