Paolo Baratta is an Italian economist and ex-minister. From 2008 to 2020 he was the President of the Venice Biennale.
He graduated in Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan and in Economics at the University of 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. Subsequently he held the position of Minister of Foreign Trade in the Ciampi Cabinet; Minister of Industry, Commerce and Interim Crafts in the Ciampi Government; Minister of Public Works and Minister of the Environment in the Dini Cabinet.
Baratta was president of the Venice Biennale for 12 years and is still a member of the boards of the Ferrovie dello Stato and of Telecom Italia.