Profile

Daughter of Umberto and Adele Portaluppi, a cultured woman and a leading figure in Milan’s fashion scene, she first married Guido Venosta, with whom she had two children, Giorgina and Giuseppe (Beppe), and later Niccolò Theodoli, with whom she had a daughter, Diana.

Read 11 articles about Luisa Quintavalle

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Luisa Quintavalle, ‘lady big name’

Grandma Luisa was a fascinating mixture of intelligence, culture, fashion and lightness. A translator from French and English for major national publishing houses, author of a volume of poetry, she also had a love of the 'good life'. She never missed an event, a meeting, a premiere at La Scala, and was always noticed, beautiful among the beautiful, so much so that she was portrayed more than once in the cartoons of the famous journalist and illustrator Bruna Mateldi Moretti, now 'recognised (...) as a key figure of our cultural twentieth century'.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Elba Island, Tenuta delle Ripalte, the lost paradise of childhood

Shortly before the Second World War, Umberto Quintavalle, vice-president of Magneti Marelli and my maternal great-grandfather, bought the marvellous Ripalte estate on the island of Elba and turned it into a place of delight, especially for hunting, but also for relatives and friends to stay. When great-grandfather Umberto died in 1959, the property passed to one of his daughters, my grandmother Luisa Quintavalle, who was married in her second marriage to Marquis Nicolò Theodoli. With her, summer periods at Ripalte are one of the most beautiful childhood memories.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Uncle Beppo Venosta: an original and unconventional personality

Original and revolutionary Uncle Beppo, my mother Giorgina's brother, was an original and revolutionary type, a great Carlo Marx-like beard and an active participant in Sixty-Eight and the '68ism' that followed. A journalist of great class, foreign correspondent from the Middle East for many years, an ironic and provocative person, he died of cancer, the disease that his father, grandfather Guido Venosta, had fought so long and so effectively with AIRC. Grandfather fortunately did not have to see him, having died the year before.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The joy of snow, always: for Milan-Cortina 2026

Since the 1920s at least, everyone in the family has been skiing, great-grandparents, fathers and grandchildren, boys and girls: from great-grandfather Umberto Quintavalle, who ended his life in a crevasse under the eyes of his grandmother Adele, to grandmother Luisa and her children, my mother Giorgina and uncle Beppo, from great-grandfather Giuseppe Venosta, President of the Sport Club Pirelli to grandfather Guido, from his brother Gigi Venosta, who in addition to skiing was also a national hockey player, to Gianni Albertini, husband of aunt Ida Quintavalle, who was also a masterful climber and Arctic explorer. And up to us, children of that passion that we still continue.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s ancestors: my maternal great-grandmother Adele Portaluppi Quintavalle, grandmother Luisa’s mother, 1942

Adele was the sister of Piero Portaluppi, a well-known Milanese architect, and belonged to the Milanese upper middle class. In the photo she is in the centre between her daughter Luisa Quintavalle, holding her own daughter Giorgina Venosta, and a third woman identifiable as Luisa Gadda Portaluppi, Adele and Piero's mother, Milan, April 1942.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s ancestors: maternal grandmother Luisa Quintavalle at Sestriere, January 1939

I had a special relationship with my grandmother Luisa. We used to meet at her place and the only gift I remember from her was Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. She had given it to me to fill in the gaps at the Swiss school I attended but, above all, she had given me something much more precious: the afternoons we had spent together, during which she had committed herself to explaining such a difficult text to me.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

My grandmother Luisa Quintavalle from a period newspaper clipping, ‘Cime Moda’, Cervinia, winter 1936

Grandmother Luisa was not only an excellent sportswoman, but also a protagonist of Milanese fashion. Here she is portrayed in a mountain outfit, of which the archive preserves proof photos. She was a person of undoubted culture, a translator from French and English for the most important Italian publishing houses, as well as an author herself.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Luisa Quintavalle, ‘lady big name’

Grandma Luisa was a fascinating mixture of intelligence, culture, fashion and lightness. A translator from French and English for major national publishing houses, author of a volume of poetry, she also had a love of the 'good life'. She never missed an event, a meeting, a premiere at La Scala, and was always noticed, beautiful among the beautiful, so much so that she was portrayed more than once in the cartoons of the famous journalist and illustrator Bruna Mateldi Moretti, now 'recognised (...) as a key figure of our cultural twentieth century'.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Elba Island, Tenuta delle Ripalte, the lost paradise of childhood

Shortly before the Second World War, Umberto Quintavalle, vice-president of Magneti Marelli and my maternal great-grandfather, bought the marvellous Ripalte estate on the island of Elba and turned it into a place of delight, especially for hunting, but also for relatives and friends to stay. When great-grandfather Umberto died in 1959, the property passed to one of his daughters, my grandmother Luisa Quintavalle, who was married in her second marriage to Marquis Nicolò Theodoli. With her, summer periods at Ripalte are one of the most beautiful childhood memories.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Uncle Beppo Venosta: an original and unconventional personality

Original and revolutionary Uncle Beppo, my mother Giorgina's brother, was an original and revolutionary type, a great Carlo Marx-like beard and an active participant in Sixty-Eight and the '68ism' that followed. A journalist of great class, foreign correspondent from the Middle East for many years, an ironic and provocative person, he died of cancer, the disease that his father, grandfather Guido Venosta, had fought so long and so effectively with AIRC. Grandfather fortunately did not have to see him, having died the year before.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The joy of snow, always: for Milan-Cortina 2026

Since the 1920s at least, everyone in the family has been skiing, great-grandparents, fathers and grandchildren, boys and girls: from great-grandfather Umberto Quintavalle, who ended his life in a crevasse under the eyes of his grandmother Adele, to grandmother Luisa and her children, my mother Giorgina and uncle Beppo, from great-grandfather Giuseppe Venosta, President of the Sport Club Pirelli to grandfather Guido, from his brother Gigi Venosta, who in addition to skiing was also a national hockey player, to Gianni Albertini, husband of aunt Ida Quintavalle, who was also a masterful climber and Arctic explorer. And up to us, children of that passion that we still continue.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s ancestors: my maternal great-grandmother Adele Portaluppi Quintavalle, grandmother Luisa’s mother, 1942

Adele was the sister of Piero Portaluppi, a well-known Milanese architect, and belonged to the Milanese upper middle class. In the photo she is in the centre between her daughter Luisa Quintavalle, holding her own daughter Giorgina Venosta, and a third woman identifiable as Luisa Gadda Portaluppi, Adele and Piero's mother, Milan, April 1942.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s ancestors: maternal grandmother Luisa Quintavalle at Sestriere, January 1939

I had a special relationship with my grandmother Luisa. We used to meet at her place and the only gift I remember from her was Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. She had given it to me to fill in the gaps at the Swiss school I attended but, above all, she had given me something much more precious: the afternoons we had spent together, during which she had committed herself to explaining such a difficult text to me.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

My grandmother Luisa Quintavalle from a period newspaper clipping, ‘Cime Moda’, Cervinia, winter 1936

Grandmother Luisa was not only an excellent sportswoman, but also a protagonist of Milanese fashion. Here she is portrayed in a mountain outfit, of which the archive preserves proof photos. She was a person of undoubted culture, a translator from French and English for the most important Italian publishing houses, as well as an author herself.