Franco Belgiorno-Nettis AC CBE (20 June 1915 – 8 July 2006) was an Australian industrialist and patron of the arts.
[2][3] Belgiorno-Nettis was born in Cassano delle Murge in the Province of Bari in Apulia, Italy in 1915 and attended the Turin Military Academy before joining the Italian army and serving in North Africa during World War II.
In 1951 he came to Australia as the employee of Italian engineering firm Electric Power Transmission, (an offshoot of Milan-based Societa' Anonima Elettrificazione), which was constructing powerlines.
[2] In 1956 he and his professional partner, Carlo Salteri, set up Transfield which became the largest construction and engineering firm in the Southern Hemisphere.
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis died in 2006 aged 91, when he fell after suffering a stroke while attending to home maintenance in Italy.