Alessandro Count

Background

Contini-Bonacossi was born in Ancona on 18 March 1878 to Camillo Contini and the Countess Elena Bonacossi Bermudez of Ferrara.

Career

In 1939 he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Vittorio Emanuele III.

In 1928, Contini-Bonacossi was made a Count by Vittorio Emanuele III. In 1939 he became a Senator. Through Walter Hofer, Contini-Bonacossi sourced art for the Göring Collection. Around 1942, Göring"s art agent Sepp Angerer, and the local German consul Gerhard Wolf, went on a tour of Contini-Bonacossi"s collection.

Angerer supposedly told the count, "What a pity you"re not a Jew!" and drawing a finger across his throat continued "If you were a Jew, we could do just that! And all the paintings would be ours!"

Contini-Bonacossi was a noted philatelist.

Contini-Bonacossi died in Florence on 22 October 1955.

Achievements

• He won a Gold-Silver medal at the London International Stamp Exhibition 1960 for his display of Tuscany and a Gold medal at WIPA 1965, also for Tuscany.