Profile

Son of Bernardo and Bettina Caprotti, he succeeded his father in leading the Manifattura Caprotti—profits from which later made the Esselunga venture possible. He married Marianne Maire, with whom he had three sons: Bernardo, Guido, and Claudio.

Read 20 articles about Peppino Caprotti

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s friends: Andrea Solbiati, the sportsman

Andrea Solbiati (1928–2014), heir to another Lombard textile dynasty, a great tennis player and a passionate football fan with a deep-rooted loyalty to AC Milan, was the man who introduced me to my childhood idols, starting with Gianni Rivera. In the late 1980s, together with Federico Castelbarco Albani, he founded the ‘Clubino’ football team, for which I played for more than 10 years. I still have the football books Andrea gave me, and they are particularly dear to me, just as he was – and still is.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

The Albiate bridge and Mayor Peppino Caprotti

In the early 1950s, the 19th-century bridge in Albiate, built at the time of carts and wagons, was now inadequate for modern vehicle traffic and too low to withstand the flooding of the Lambro. The municipal council led by Peppino Caprotti, my grandfather, who was elected mayor in the summer of 1951, began to deal with it, because in that very year the Lambro was still overflowing. During his brief period at the head of the Albiatese municipal administration (he died in a car accident the following year), Peppino had time to lay the foundations for the important project to rebuild the bridge.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

Peppino Caprotti, Alberto Sartoris and the school and family chapel projects in Albiate

After the First World War, Albiate underwent a phase of great transformation and in 1929 inaugurated the new town hall, destined to serve as town hall, school and clinic, also as a memorial to the 60 fallen and missing in the town. The building was realised thanks to a collective subscription and the contribution of several benefactor families, including the Caprotti family. In the archives of Villa San Valerio emerges the correspondence between my grandfather Peppino Caprotti and the architect Alberto Sartoris, who was commissioned to design both the building and the family chapel in the Albiate cemetery.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

Peppino Caprotti – Final tragedy, honours to the Mayor

In June 1952, grandfather Peppino died in a car accident while returning from a deer hunt in Austria. Peppino had been elected mayor of Albiate only a year earlier. A few days later, the whole town attended the mayor's funeral. Peppino was also remembered in the first of the annual pamphlets that the municipal administration published at the end of each of its terms. The story of Peppino and his family has always intersected with that of his village, and in "Le Ossa dei Caprotti" I have narrated it.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The character of Grandpa Peppino

Caprotti's men were sanguine, quarrelsome characters, easily ignited, competitive and sometimes ruthless. But they could also be cheerful, enthusiastic, vital, and feel a deep affection for the family, although this same powerful vitalism and strong competitiveness often led to misunderstandings and jealousies that were difficult if not impossible to reconcile. Grandpa Peppino's story is not very different from the general picture.

History of Esselunga History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Peppino and Peppino Caprotti: America’s uncles and the Marshall Plan

In 1893, Lucie Amélie Kampmann, one of the sisters of my great-grandmother Fernande – the mother of my grandmother Marianne Maire Caprotti – married Julian Ellinger, who was born in Baltimore, and moved with him to the United States. Their son Alfred, my grandmother’s cousin, would be instrumental in securing Marshall Plan funds for the Caprotti factory.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Bursinel, the castle on Caprotti’s lake

The castle of Bursinel, in the canton of Vaud, was bought after the war by grandfather Peppino, and together with Villa Nadina, in Forte dei Marmi, it is one of the places of the heart. At Bursinel we all get together, uncles cousins brothers grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and we children play for hours on the castle's large lawn. My father gave it to my sister who is selling it, much to my regret.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Marianne’s early years

My grandmother Marianne Maire, daughter of Georges Maire, who went from being a clerk to an executive in a textile industry, and Fernande Kampmann, heir to a family tradition in the fine craft of straw hats, met Peppino Caprotti in 1922 as a young student in her hometown. Two years later she married him and together they began their life in Italy.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family’s friends: Andrea Solbiati, the sportsman

Andrea Solbiati (1928–2014), heir to another Lombard textile dynasty, a great tennis player and a passionate football fan with a deep-rooted loyalty to AC Milan, was the man who introduced me to my childhood idols, starting with Gianni Rivera. In the late 1980s, together with Federico Castelbarco Albani, he founded the ‘Clubino’ football team, for which I played for more than 10 years. I still have the football books Andrea gave me, and they are particularly dear to me, just as he was – and still is.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

The Albiate bridge and Mayor Peppino Caprotti

In the early 1950s, the 19th-century bridge in Albiate, built at the time of carts and wagons, was now inadequate for modern vehicle traffic and too low to withstand the flooding of the Lambro. The municipal council led by Peppino Caprotti, my grandfather, who was elected mayor in the summer of 1951, began to deal with it, because in that very year the Lambro was still overflowing. During his brief period at the head of the Albiatese municipal administration (he died in a car accident the following year), Peppino had time to lay the foundations for the important project to rebuild the bridge.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

Peppino Caprotti, Alberto Sartoris and the school and family chapel projects in Albiate

After the First World War, Albiate underwent a phase of great transformation and in 1929 inaugurated the new town hall, destined to serve as town hall, school and clinic, also as a memorial to the 60 fallen and missing in the town. The building was realised thanks to a collective subscription and the contribution of several benefactor families, including the Caprotti family. In the archives of Villa San Valerio emerges the correspondence between my grandfather Peppino Caprotti and the architect Alberto Sartoris, who was commissioned to design both the building and the family chapel in the Albiate cemetery.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

Peppino Caprotti – Final tragedy, honours to the Mayor

In June 1952, grandfather Peppino died in a car accident while returning from a deer hunt in Austria. Peppino had been elected mayor of Albiate only a year earlier. A few days later, the whole town attended the mayor's funeral. Peppino was also remembered in the first of the annual pamphlets that the municipal administration published at the end of each of its terms. The story of Peppino and his family has always intersected with that of his village, and in "Le Ossa dei Caprotti" I have narrated it.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The character of Grandpa Peppino

Caprotti's men were sanguine, quarrelsome characters, easily ignited, competitive and sometimes ruthless. But they could also be cheerful, enthusiastic, vital, and feel a deep affection for the family, although this same powerful vitalism and strong competitiveness often led to misunderstandings and jealousies that were difficult if not impossible to reconcile. Grandpa Peppino's story is not very different from the general picture.

History of Esselunga History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Peppino and Peppino Caprotti: America’s uncles and the Marshall Plan

In 1893, Lucie Amélie Kampmann, one of the sisters of my great-grandmother Fernande – the mother of my grandmother Marianne Maire Caprotti – married Julian Ellinger, who was born in Baltimore, and moved with him to the United States. Their son Alfred, my grandmother’s cousin, would be instrumental in securing Marshall Plan funds for the Caprotti factory.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Bursinel, the castle on Caprotti’s lake

The castle of Bursinel, in the canton of Vaud, was bought after the war by grandfather Peppino, and together with Villa Nadina, in Forte dei Marmi, it is one of the places of the heart. At Bursinel we all get together, uncles cousins brothers grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and we children play for hours on the castle's large lawn. My father gave it to my sister who is selling it, much to my regret.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Marianne’s early years

My grandmother Marianne Maire, daughter of Georges Maire, who went from being a clerk to an executive in a textile industry, and Fernande Kampmann, heir to a family tradition in the fine craft of straw hats, met Peppino Caprotti in 1922 as a young student in her hometown. Two years later she married him and together they began their life in Italy.

Further Reading



Read 4 more articles

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Ercole Marelli and Manifattura Caprotti: first industrialists, then relatives

The comparison between Ercole Marelli and Manifattura Caprotti highlights not only the differences in industrial sectors - Marelli, founded in 1899, operates in the electromechanical sector, Caprotti, founded as an industry in 1840, operates in the textile sector -, but also how both represent significant histories of Italian industry, and exploring their stories offers interesting insights into economic and social dynamics in Italy.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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.

History of Italy History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Ercole Marelli and Manifattura Caprotti: first industrialists, then relatives

The comparison between Ercole Marelli and Manifattura Caprotti highlights not only the differences in industrial sectors - Marelli, founded in 1899, operates in the electromechanical sector, Caprotti, founded as an industry in 1840, operates in the textile sector -, but also how both represent significant histories of Italian industry, and exploring their stories offers interesting insights into economic and social dynamics in Italy.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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.

History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

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.