The Caprotti family: Aunt Silvia, grandfather Peppino’s sister (1896 – 1994)

Silvia is the middle sister. From the letters that have remained to us, she is seen to be very attached to the family. In 1922 she became engaged to Ernesto Thomas, who in that very year founded the wool mill in Brusimpiano on Lake Lugano that still bears his name, and married him in 1923. Aunt Silvia, who is also present in the lives and affection of her grandchildren, grandfather Peppino's children, and whom I knew as a boy in the 1980s, spent her entire life in Brusimpiano, where she died very old in 1994.

Manifattura Caprotti and continuity: fabrics from the 19th century to the 1980s

As in the past, the factory has continued to produce its fabrics in the present, updating to the fashions of the times some of its classics such as the checked or fancy fabrics, produced at least since the 1840s in the bright colours that were so popular and kept in production, updated in fabric and colour preferences, for more than a century more.

Caprotti and supermarkets: James Hugh Angleton, father of James Jesus, 1960s

Among the most important art collectors who were also Brunelli's clients in those years was James Hugh Angleton, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy. Brunelli told me that Angleton had revealed to him Nelson Rockefeller's idea of studying the opening of a chain of supermarkets in Italy already during the exhibition on the "Settecento Veneziano" curated by Brunelli himself, and being the contact person for Rockefeller and his company IBEC in Italy he was sounding out the terrain in search of local partners willing to join the American magnate in the venture.

The Caprotti family, the birth of Esselunga and US counter-espionage: James Hugh and James Angleton

Film buffs who have seen Robert De Niro's 2006 film The Good Shepherd - The Shadow of Power may know that the main character, played by Matt Damon, is inspired by James James Angleton, one of the most legendary and controversial figures in American intelligence. However, the figure of James Hugh [Angleton], the father, is also of extreme interest ...