Caprotti family Easter egg hunt, 1964

For us, children with transalpine blood and habits, hunting for Easter eggs among the meadows and trees has always been a habit. With our mothers and cousins we would scatter around the countryside, well dressed and the girls in their hats; the customary photo would follow, like this one, full of the tenderness of memories, perfect for wishing everyone a peaceful Easter.

Negotiations: Coca-Cola and Barilla

I made peace with Barilla after more than ten years of quarrelling. In the end in 1999 we gained, and a lot. An exceptional turnaround (plus 458 per cent in two years), in a very short time . Coca-Cola, in the late 1990s, came to Esselunga with absolutely unacceptable commercial conditions. In the end, the Antitrust Authority agreed and the American company was condemned to pay a fine of 15 million euros

‘Supper Market of style’: Kean Etro’s men’s fashion show on the shelves of the Esselunga in Via Washington, 2001

In 2001, Kean Etro 'wandered around [in the Esselunga on Washington Street] presenting his collection of plant-dyed cotton sweaters among the very first organic product counters. 'They took us for fools. Then the organic line is still there' ". In 2014, Chanel also paraded its models among the shelves of a supermarket at the Grand Palais in Paris. Only the supermarket was fake.

ESD Italy – Efficiency and Services for Distribution, 2001

Marcello Cestaro, who heads one of the groups that make up Selex, jokingly defines our union as that between 'the beautiful', that is Esselunga, probably the 'most beautiful chain in Europe' and 'the beast', that is Selex... From them, however, we draw a huge lesson in humility: the beast, in fact, helps the beautiful so much to understand the market and double its profitability

‘ESSELUNGA AT HOME’: the first large-scale retail e-commerce in Italy

We saw at Delhaize in Belgium a system that allows customers to do their shopping either via the web or via fax and have it delivered to their home. Bernardo, although not convinced, gives his approval. ... we started with e- commerce in Monza in March 2001, using the warehouse of the supermarket in Via San Fruttuoso, which we adapted as a dark store

Chicago 1987, before superstores

Charles Fitzmorris, Esselunga's IT service provider, convinces my father to let me go to America to gain experience. He puts me in touch with the family of one of his clients, Dominick Di Matteo, who has a chain of supermarkets in Chicago. During my two-year stay, during which I worked my way up through the ranks internally, starting as a general worker, I learned the basics, and then in Milan I was able to put to good use what would become the great change, the quantum leap that would make Esselunga's fortune.

São Paulo, Brazil, Giuseppe Caprotti’s work baptism, 1979

After high school I follow my best friend, who is Brazilian, to São Paulo. My father did not appreciate the decision, but he supported it; I found my first job, a worker in the branch of the French Carrefour chain, of which a friend of my father's, Francesco De Marchi, was then in charge, and he also took me to visit several Brazilian locations. It is a baptism of fire at work, but it leaves me with the excellent memory of an important experience.

Giuseppe Caprotti portrayed as Benefactor of the Ca’ Granda Foundation, 2023

When my mother Giorgina Venosta passed me the baton of the Guido Venosta Foundation, created in memory of her father and my grandfather, we were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. As President, I then tried to intervene as much as possible with concrete aid to cope with the emergency; among these was the donation of 12 intensive care beds at the Policlinico di Milano. And the Foundation that runs it, in keeping with a centuries-old tradition that began in 1459, has paid tribute to this charity by dedicating a portrait to me