Bursinel, the castle on Caprotti’s lake

The castle of Bursinel, in the canton of Vaud, was bought after the war by grandfather Peppino, and together with Villa Nadina, in Forte dei Marmi, it is one of the places of the heart. At Bursinel we all get together, uncles cousins brothers grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and we children play for hours on the castle's large lawn. My father gave it to my sister who is selling it, much to my regret.

The Caprotti family: from textiles – with Manifattura – to Esselunga

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

The house in Via del Lauro, the other heart of the Caprotti family

Deciding to have a permanent home in Milan, grandfather Peppino Caprotti purchased an entire building in the central Via del Lauro. The renovation is overseen by Luigi Caccia Dominioni, an architect, designer and urban planner of international renown, convinced by his grandmother Marianne Maire Caprotti thanks to her particularly tenacious character, which Caccia Dominioni, now 100 years old, still remembered.

The Caprotti marriages: Bernardo Caprotti and Giorgina Venosta

Bernardo and Giorgina met in Forte dei Marmi, and were married in Milan in November 1958, in the church of San Fedele packed with guests and, outside the gates, a crowd of onlookers. She was 17, he twice that age. The photo album shows smiles and joy around the newlyweds; the premises are all there, but they will not be fulfilled. The couple will separate despite the birth of two children, Giuseppe and Violetta.

Marianne’s early years

My grandmother Marianne Maire, daughter of Georges Maire, who went from being a clerk to an executive in a textile industry, and Fernande Kampmann, heir to a family tradition in the fine craft of straw hats, met Peppino Caprotti in 1922 as a young student in her hometown. Two years later she married him and together they began their life in Italy.