Ferdinando Brachetti Peretti

Ferdinando Maria Brachetti Peretti (born in Rome on January 13, 1960), from the wealthy Brachetti Peretti family, is Chairman and CEO of an Italian energy company, API Group. He was married to Princess Mafalda Margherita of Hesse, daughter of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse.

After graduating from high school with a diploma in classical studies, he enrolled in the School of Business and Economics at the University of Rome (“La Sapienza”). During his studies he served his military service as an official in the Carabinieri in 1980-1981 in Naples, achieving also a solemn encomium for the Irpinia earthquake of 1981.

After having lived together for several years, in 2000 he married Her Royal Highness Princess Mafalda Margarethe von Hessen, daughter of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Moritz of Hesse and Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. They have two sons, Cosmo and Briano, born in 2000 and 2002 respectively. They were divorced in 2014.

His father, Count Aldo Maria Brachetti Peretti, Cav. Del Lavoro (Italian decoration given to important figures in industry), was for thirty years, until September 2007, head of the family Group “API” (Anonima Petroli Italiana), founded by his maternal grandfather Cav. Del Lavoro Ferdinando Peretti; his mother, Mila, National Inspectress of the Italian Red Cross, boasts of a career of over 30 years in the Red Cross and is the only woman in Italy to carry the military grade of General.

Ferdinando Brachetti Peretti began his career in 1983 in the family company, the energy group “API Anonima Petroli Italiana” – “IP Italiana Petroli” 100% owned by “API Holding”, of which he is, together with his brothers, 100% shareholder. His father head of the Group for 30 years, delegated full powers to his son, Ferdinando, in September 2007. Ferdinando is Chairman and CEO of API Holding, the financial safe of all the API Group companies. The two sub-holdings of the electric sector, API Energia and Api Nova Energia, are being developed for the production of electric energy from both traditional sources (natural gas and LNG plants) as well as renewable, such as aeolic, biomass, photovoltaic. He is the Chairman member of the Coordination Committee of the API Group in which strategies of the Group are determined and the political operations of each single company are coordinated. He began working at the company at the age of 23 as, for a period of time, a worker in the refinery. Throughout the years he has directed all the sectors of the various companies making up the API Group, managing in a “downstream” manner, i.e. the whole of the activity from the supply of crude to the transport to tankers, to the refining, marketing and sale of petroleum and all of its derivatives. He moved to London for four years where he initiated the petroleum trading office which is still today one of the most significant sectors of the Group. He then transferred to Paris for two years to study administration and finance after an internship at the Paribas Bank; he thereafter returned to the headquarters in Rome in the 1990s, taking growing responsibilities.

Since his youth, first in Italy and then later in England, he dedicated himself to his passion for motorcycles and motocross at a professional level, whereas today he is a motorcycle racing enthusiast. Among his other interests is photography, which he has been fascinated with since he was a boy. He did photo-reportages while travelling in Europe and crossing by bike through the deserts of Africa and Australia, receiving recognition and prizes such as the “Motor Adventure of the Year 1984”. Today he blends his love of photography with his love of contemporary art, which he collects as well as being an artist himself, creating digital works of various diverse subjects. His photographs were exhibited at "Padiglione Italia" in the "Biennale di Venezia 2011". He did many other exhibitions at Galeria Caylus in Madrid, at Bologna Art fair, at Mia in Milan, at Rome Contemporary art fair and at the Biennale Italy - China (Villa Reale, Monza).