The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian textile manufacturer: Alessandro Belgiojoso and the ‘La meccanica della Caprotti’ exhibition

Alessandro Belgiojoso is an internationally renowned photographer, husband of Albertina, daughter of Gianni Albertini D'Urso, in turn daughter of Gianni Albertini, an explorer and my great-uncle. Years ago, in 2008, I approached him to photograph a documentary collection kept in my archive, from which a panel exhibition was to be created in 2011. His uncle Giuseppe Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1924 - 2022) was a friend of my father Bernardo and probably also of my grandfather Peppino

The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian manufacture: Albiate and Switzerland

Bernardo Caprotti, an agricultural owner, founded Giuseppe Caprotti’s Bernardo Caprotti cotton weaving company on his land in Ponte Albiate. Caprotti’s company was still based on an almost pre-industrial production system: few simple machines, many warehouses, worker-farmers weaving mainly at home. In 1866 there were about 1500 of them. However, the great industrial revolution that would transform Europe was underway…

Bernardo Caprotti’s and Giorgina Venosta’s friends: architect Mario Botta

Born in Mendrisio in 1943, he designed the shopping centre in Via Canova, Florence, for Esselunga. Mario Botta was at home in Monate, in the villa of my mother Giorgina and her husband Aldo Bassetti. When my grandmother Luisa Quintavalle died in 2009, she wrote an affectionate condolence card to my mother, with a sketch on the cover for the new Alpine church in Mogno, Switzerland, which was swept away by an avalanche in 1986.

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).

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.

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