How has our relationship with food changed over the last hundred years? In the first episode of the docuseries “What We Eat”, produced in collaboration with @foodunfolded with the support of EIT Food and co-funded by the European Union, we trace the evolution of our relationship with food, which has been turned on its head in just one century
This video documents the presentation of my book Le Ossa dei Caprotti held on Saturday 8 November 2025 in Chiari (BS), as part of the Rassegna della Microeditoria Italiana. In the dialogue with Claudio Baroni, I recount the origin of the book, the work on the sources and the reasons that led me to reconstruct a family history marked by myths, conflicts and complex generational transitions
The Caprotti story begins with Antonio del fu Giovanni Battista (1685). The family’s origins lie in agriculture and textiles, until 2009 when, partly due to a sharp drop in orders, the company’s top management decided to close the Manifattura after more than 179 years of activity. In the meantime, the Caprotti family took part in the founding of Esselunga in 1957
Esselunga’s origins are linked to the history of the city of Milan
“My two youngest sons were both deprived of their jobs and therefore of their lives’. Marianne Caprotti, Bernardo Caprotti’s mother, 1982. History repeated itself later with me. By Giuseppe Caprotti. 1 May, Labour Day
A brief history of one of the best-selling products in supermarkets: from the banana wars with the subsequent US oligopoly of Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte, to bananas with alternative brands.
In my view, the difference between journalism, political non-fiction and history lies in the research, which, in the case of history, is much more in-depth and is based, first and foremost, on the study of documents and archives. But the added value of this book also lies in the contributions from people who worked for or were close to Esselunga, a company with a much broader entrepreneurial spirit than one might think
The interview retraced Caprotti’s life at Esselunga, citing his pioneering projects in Italian retail, from the introduction of organic products to loyalty programmes and the first corporate responsibility initiatives
I really stopped. During that long difficult period we talked about earlier, I stopped completely. It was a time of silence, of isolation. But then, with the end of the court case and Covid, I chose to look forward. I decided to see the Covid crisis as an opportunity to help. From there my personal rebirth and my work in the Guido Venosta Foundation was born
