Suicide appears to be the most likely cause of the death yesterday of 46-year-old Mr Edoardo Agnelli, son of Mr Gianni Agnelli, the former president of car giant Fiat. Mr Edoardo Agnelli's body was found yesterday morning at the foot of a 250-feet high viaduct on the Turin-Savona autostrada. Mr Agnelli's car, a Fiat Croma, was parked on the emergency shoulder of the autostrada on the viaduct, just above where the body was found. The car showed no signs of having been involved in an accident while Mr Agnelli's body, although badly bruised by the fatal fall, apparently revealed no traces of foul play. Edoardo's father, Gianni, made the official recognition of the body.
Mr Agnelli jnr's death represents another fatal chapter in the cursed fate of the Agnelli dynasty, often referred to as Italy's uncrowned "royal family". Just three years ago, Mr Edoardo Agnelli's cousin, 33year-old Mr Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, the man designated to take control of the family-run Fiat empire, died of cancer.
Born in New York and the eldest of two children, Mr Edoardo Agnelli was unusual in that he played no role in the family business. A graduate of Princeton, he lived a reserved and discreet life, focused mainly on his religious and philosophical concerns.
He had travelled to India and the Far East to explore various Oriental religions.
Mr Edoardo Agnelli briefly made headlines in the late 1980s when he was arrested in Kenya, charged with possession of and trafficking in marijuana. Since that incident, he had largely disappeared from public life.
Although he was reported to have had a difficult relationship with his father, Edoardo did appear to share his father's passion for football and for the family-owned Serie A side, Juventus. For a period in the late 1980s he served on the Juventus board, occasionally taking part in team training sessions and also sitting on the coach's bench.
A minute's silence was observed in memory of Mr Agnelli prior to the kick-off of last night's Italy v England friendly soccer matchplayed in his native Turin.
Mr Agnelli jnr is survived by his father, Gianni, his mother and his sister, Margherita.
Alan Friedman, economic journalist and biographer of the 1988 best-selling no-holds-barred portrait of the family and its empire, Agnelli and the Network of Italian Power, said: "This is above all a profound human tragedy."
Mr Friedman said: "I do not personally know if this was a suicide or not, but Edoardo led a troubled, introspective and ascetic life."
His death "would certainly have an emotional impact on all of Italy because of the Agnelli family's unique standing," he said.
"The Agnelli family is in Italy of a stature that one would place it with the Kennedy family in the US, or Britain's royal family. It makes Gianni the uncrowned king of Italy."