The piece is very interesting for three reasons: 1) the story of Claudio Caprotti’s career path, 2) the example of the parallel whisky market, 3) the sale of salt 4) the assessment of the food department of La Standa
Now elderly and retired from business, Carlo alternated between stays in Italy and several months in Africa, residing in Algiers. In 1914, the outbreak of the Great War stopped him there, but he regularly received letters from his nephew Peppino, son of his daughter Bettina and his brother Beppo's eldest son Bernardo, a telegraph operator in Parma.
As an industrialist and public figure in Bergamo society, Carlo chose a stately home in what is now Via Tasso, with a large park of 5.61 perches (over 3600 square metres), designed and organised by Carlo himself.
After separating in business from his elder brother Beppo (1872), Carlo moved to Bergamo and here he set up two textile companies, one in 1874, the 'Società in nome collettivo Caprotti & Guttinger', the other in 1901, the individual firm 'C. M. Caprotti'.
Carlo fell in love with Selina, daughter of Zurich businessman Nicholas Hübert, who had business between his homeland, Switzerland, and Bergamo, home to a strong and wealthy Reformed business community, and married her in 1871.
Carlo Caprotti was the Caprotti with the most ardent spirit. Whichever venture he embarked on, he always threw himself heart and soul into it, whether it was his Risorgimento and libertarian passions, his republican political commitment, his marriage or the fortunes of his factory.
