Food and Retail History History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family and Coop: the sale of Esselunga, Aldo Soldi and ‘Sickle and Cart’

... This news is almost contemporaneous with a proposal of mine, in October 2004, to buy the majority share of Esselunga, a proposal that was rejected. At this point there was talk of four other offers, in particular one from the American giant Walmart; and Aldo Soldi, since 2004 president of ANCC - Coop, the National Association of Consumer Cooperatives, also expressed interest in buying it, because a move into foreign hands would have been a disaster for the Italian food economy. An unwise move, which will be among the reasons why Bernardo will publish his book Sickle and Cart in 2007.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family and Coop: the ‘war’ on several fronts

(...) Let's start thinking of a dossier that shows how, from both the members' and the social point of view, cooperatives are enterprises like any other. It follows that the favourable conditions from which they benefit are state aid. We set up an internal working group and (...) gather all the necessary documentation to support our conviction. The dossier will then be taken to Brussels by Federdistribuzione and will change, at least in part, the taxation of cooperatives. Even Massimo D'Alema is moving in their defence but our victory, the fruits of which I will not be able to reap, is very important. (...)". (G. CAPROTTI, Le Ossa dei Caprotti. Una storia italiana, Milan 20243, pp. 149; 187 - 188; p. 269).

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

The Caprotti family and fabrics: the Manifattura logo, Max Huber, 1958

In the 1950s, Bernardo Caprotti family asked the great Swiss graphic designer Max Huber, who would later design the logo for Supermarkets then Esselunga, to create a new logo for his cotton mill as well. The concept of the design also started, as for Supermarkets, from the idea of the initial letter - the C - artfully elongated to contain the full name of the company; in another version, the name is moved to the body of the letter, and in the eye of the C jumps the new, stylised, ultra-modern little goat.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian factory: workers from San Vittore prison

When, in the early post-unification years, the Caprottis built their first large factory in the true sense of the term, eventually finding themselves with thousands of square metres of space, they were initially not quite clear what to put in it. They probably envisaged a kind of ‘centralised manufacturing’, and to this end they purchased various machines by turning to various manufacturers, including the Milanese prison of San Vittore whose director, Eugenio Cicognani, was personally passionate about and invented a newly developed regulator loom, built by the inmates.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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…

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Giorgina Venosta’s friends: Tomás Maldonado, artist and companion of Inge Feltrinelli

Tomás Maldonado (1922-2018), born in Buenos Aires, was a lecturer in Industrial Design in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, a chair he established in 1994. When he met Inge Feltrinelli, Giangiacomo's recently widowed wife, he moved from operational design to a more intellectual role. He lived with Inge for over forty years, dying just over two months after her

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Friends of Bernardo Caprotti and Giorgina Venosta: architect Vico Magistretti and publisher Rosellina Archinto

My father Bernardo wanted Vico Magistretti to design the Esselunga superstore in Pantigliate, which opened in 2001, where two years later the first of the 'Bar Atlantique' (now 'Bar Atlantic') opened, also designed by Magistretti, who renovated the food outlets that I had strongly desired since the first superstores. The great architect worked for my father, but he was also a close friend of my mother GiorginaOf mutual friends Rosellina Archinto, who animated Milan's cultural life for decades