History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Aldo Bassetti. The political-entrepreneurial commitment: the ‘Piccolo Naviglio’ company and the ‘Espresso’

Almost by chance, in the early 1960s, Aldo Bassetti found himself joining a group that would save the weekly ‘L’Espresso’. It is called ‘Piccolo Naviglio’, and includes, in addition to Bassetti, young heirs from some of Italy’s major industrial dynasties: in fact, in addition to Bassetti, there are Roberto Olivetti and Vittorio Olcese.

Food and Retail History History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The entrepreneur: Aldo Bassetti, beer and ‘family’ water

After the First World War, the Bassettis thus acquired two of the oldest Italian breweries, Spluga in Chiavenna and Birrificio Angelo Poretti in Induno Olona. Thanks mainly to the latter, Aldo Bassetti took his beer to southern Italy and imported and distributed the great Danish brands Tuborg and Carlsberg. In addition to beer, Bassetti invested in mineral water, for example producing Frisia mineral water in the Spluga plant, which in the 1980s became the first to be marketed in Milan.

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Aldo Bassetti: the war, his aunt killed by the Nazis, paintings by Mario Mafai donated to Brera

In September 1943, the SS killed a group of Jews in Meina, including Lotte Fröhlich Mazzucchelli, aunt of 17-year-old Aldo Bassetti, who was given the terrible task of looking for his body among the corpses thrown into the lake. In memory of that tragedy, Bassetti, honorary president from 2007 to 2020 of the Amici di Brera, purchased and donated Mario Mafai’s ‘Fantasie’ to the Pinacoteca in 2018.

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families People, Environment & Culture

Guido Venosta and his second life: the National Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) – part two

Thanks to the work of my grandfather Guido Venosta, but also to favourable economic, social and cultural circumstances, AIRC was successful and grew. In 1975 my grandfather was elected President, a role he held for twenty years, structuring the organisation at a managerial level that was then unique in the field of solidarity.

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families People, Environment & Culture

Guido Venosta and the AIRC – The winning idea: spreading the AIRC nationwide (the Regional Committees)

In conceiving the grand design of the Association, my grandfather Guido had the winning idea: that of spreading the activity and interest in the Association at a national level, focusing on regional representatives with local mentality, customs and sensibilities, but also precise and fast contact with headquarters.