Scholar, author, and pioneer. Born in Rome, son of the physician to King Victor Emmanuel III, Sereni abandoned a brilliant intellectual career to settle in Palestine in 1926. He was the founder and moving spirit of the settlement of Givat Brenner. During World War II, Sereni organized a group of Jewish parachutists to jump into enemy territories on Jewish rescue missions. Although nearly 40, he joined the group, was caught, and was executed in Dachau in 1944.