History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family and architects: Ignazio Gardella and the first Esselunga Superstore

When Bernardo Caprotti, with remarkable foresight, decided to build larger supermarkets, his passion for architecture led him to seek the collaboration of great architects such as Ignazio Gardella, whose designs changed the concept of the supermarket from a simple container to a building with distinctive architecture, another element that allowed Esselunga to strengthen brand recognition and establish its shops as a central service to neighbourhoods, especially the most peripheral ones. Such large supermarkets, however, need to be filled, and at that point my American experience suggests how to do this through ‘non-food’, that is, ‘everything that is not food’: from products of all kinds (from stationery to laundry to crockery) to services (customer care, express checkouts, home shopping, e-commerce).

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Giorgina Venosta’s friends: Gae Aulenti, Ettore Sottsass, Vittorio Gregotti

My mother Giorgina, who from 1977 to 1991 was the representative in Milan of the auction house Christie’s, in charge of liaising with all the experts in the various sectors, and then an art expert with her own company, Consulenza d’Arte, which she founded in 1992 with two other partners, could only move well in the environment where the great architect-designers gravitated, forging friendships that lasted a lifetime.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Giorgina Venosta’s friends: Pierluigi Cerri and Donatella Brustio in Cerri

Pierluigi Cerri, one of Italy’s greatest architect-designers and winner of three Compasso d’Oro awards – the oldest and most prestigious design prize in the world – happily gravitated around the tables of the villa that my mother Giorgina and her second husband, Aldo Bassetti, owned on Lake Monate. Pierluigi had also married Donatella Brustio, a descendant of the family that was identified with La Rinascente for decades (she herself worked there from a very young age), and a close friend of my mother’s. She was a very sweet woman and, like all Giorgina’s friends, strong and resourceful. Her death in 2016 left a great void.

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family and sport: Uncle Luigi Venosta called Gigi, hockey and medals

Luigi Venosta, called Gigi, my grandfather’s second brother, was ‘the most popular Italian player’ of ice hockey in the 1930s, as ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ described him, wearing among other things the Azzurri jersey for more than twenty games. During the war he was an aviator, and earned a silver medal in the field. In the photo, Gigi Venosta is last in the back, in the breakaway, wearing the dark jersey.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

A journey into the memory of the Caprotti family and Manifattura Caprotti

This project stems from the desire to preserve the historical memory of Manifattura Caprotti, which has represented much more than a company: it has been the beating heart of the entire Albiate community, a symbol of innovation and dedication, and has represented the family’s industrial roots, which later led to the acquisition of a majority stake in Esselunga

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family female: my grandmother Marianne Maire, 1920s

Marianne Maire, a Frenchwoman from Épinal, was Grandpa Peppino’s wife, whom he met while studying in France. She was not an easy character, but I remember most of all the sweetness with which she treated us grandchildren. When, in the 1960s, her three sons decided to take over their share of Supermarket (the future Esselunga) from the Americans of IBEC, she came to their rescue with 300 million lire at the time and the relinquishment of most of her rights over Manifattura Caprotti and the family assets she had inherited from her late husband, helping them in no small measure to achieve their goal.