Paolo Baratta

Paolo Baratta (born 11 November 1939) is an Italian economist and ex-minister. From 2008 to 2020 he was the President of the Venice Biennale.

Life and career Baratta graduated in Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan before studying for a second degree in Economics at Pembroke College, Cambridge. In 1967 he did industrial research for the Italian Association for the development of Industry in the South, the SVIMEZ. In 1977 he became director of the ICIPU, an Italian credit consortium for public companies; later, he became the first vice president and then president.

From 1980 to 1992, he held many positions: in addition to the ICIPU presidency he was also president of Crediop, the credit consortium for public works; vice president of Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano and president of the Italian banking association.

In 1993 he became Minister in Giuliano Amato's cabinet.