The Caprotti ancestors: my maternal grandfather Guido Venosta, c. 1913-1915.

My grandfather Guido Venosta, born in 1911, was the son of Giuseppe, a Pirelli engineer from the early 20th century who had the good fortune to experience the heroic season of tyres and the first Grand Prix. The family albums preserve many photographs of races from the 1920s, with his great-grandfather photographed with champions such as Campari, Nazzaro, Minoia and Antonio Ascari, and with his son Guido, who often followed his father. It is not known under what circumstances the photograph was taken, but he liked it so much that many copies were made, especially enlargements of the child, which are still in the archives today.

The Caprotti family: my grandfather Giuseppe Caprotti called Peppino, 1950s

Peppino's grandfather, a skilled entrepreneur, managed to get the family business back on its feet after the reckless actions of his father and uncle Emilio, and after the Second World War, having succeeded in obtaining Marshall Plan funds, he made it a textile industry excellence. His grandfather also showed remarkable financial skills, betting on shares in several companies including Pirelli and building up a substantial fortune that his sons later used to buy control of Esselunga.

The name ‘Esselunga’, the story of a small myth

Uncle Claudio [Caprotti], my father's last brother, told me that Esselunga's name was born at the time of the 'Mille lire lunghe' (One Thousand Long Lira) promotional campaign (1969 - 1971), curated by Alberto Gandin, one of the leading Italian advertisers of the time. The slogan was 'come and spend 1,000 long Lira at the supermarket with the long esse'. From then on, customers began to call the supermarkets 'Esselunga', which was to become the name of the operating company while the holding company continued to be called Supermarkets Italiani."