Belluno

"That January morning, Leonardo is going to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, to celebrate the debut of his Luxottica on the most important stock market in the world. "An unforgettable day," recalls Chemello, who keeps all the preparatory documents for the listing in his office in downtown Belluno, the highest point of his career at Luxottica. The story of leadership in the sector also counts a lot in that choice. Leonardo goes to prove to the entire world that the son of the Martinitt has conquered the summit, he is number one. His "factory" is the largest company in the world in the production and sale of glasses. It controls about 10% of the global market. But few know this, many are unaware of it, some still don't want to believe it. Del Vecchio, on the other hand, started decades after his major competitors; he began as a small subcontractor, he never flaunted his conquests; he has overtaken or purchased rivals with an insatiable necessity for growth, without going around telling of his victories and expansion."

"Presented as a "very good young and experienced die-maker," he wins the trust of the partners from Belluno. "Of course, being a subcontractor in Milan with factories far away, in Cadore, actually created logistic problems, connections, there was an issue of timing," explains Mister Luxottica, when he recalls the days of the decision to leave Milan. "The proposal was made to me by one of them outlining a changeable convenience, that's why I moved." Del Vecchio finds it natural to go into partnership with what was his best customer. The entrepreneurs from Cadore set precise conditions, however: to establish a company in which they would be the majority."

"Presented as a "very good young and experienced die-maker," he wins the trust of the partners from Belluno."

"The workers from Belluno in his "factory" always have a special place in the heart of the Milanese entrepreneur."

"The Crotta from whom the villa takes its name was a Lombard who arrived in town in the Sixteenth century from Laorca, the most northern of the districts of Lecco, with abundant riches and a certain baggage of mining experiences and knowledge acquired in German lands, as told by Raffaello Vergani, professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Padua. In Agordo he managed to establish himself, gaining prestige and recognition also from the authorities of Belluno and Venice, hence the construction of the Venetian villa in the center of the village. His great innovation was the use of gunpowder for the extraction of ore. A power."

"Angelo was born into a family of "pettener," as the peasants from Belluno who spent the long winter days, free from work in the woods, making combs from the horns of cattle were called, artifacts that they would go down to sell in the city squares of the plains. Ancient rituals handed down through generations, skilled work performed by men in front of the hearth. Precision work, where it takes time, patience, and perseverance. Like making frames. Perhaps it is no coincidence that in Italy, as in France and also in Japan, the optical industry was born in mountain countries, where time expands and distractions are reduced, allowing craftsmen to become masters of the technique."

"Another eight hours in the car with a ticket in his pocket that's worth gold. And yet at the Banca del Friuli in Agordo it's not enough; they don't trust the outsider and "they refused to reopen my account. So I rushed to the Cassa di Risparmio in Belluno, which gave me credit and trust. I was able to pay the workers' wages that way." The salary also arrives that time. "Never missed even half a payment, since then," his guys say."

"Having crossed the Cibiana and Duran passes, you arrive in Agordo, a town that was almost ghostlike sixty years ago, struck by the scourge of emigration for lack of prospects after the closure of the mines, and that in 2021 represents a small gem of excellence. Agordo hosts over four thousand workers in its factory: double-decker buses shuttle to bring them to the factory from all over the province of Belluno, and at shift change, it seems like you are at Oxford Circus."

"Before Del Vecchio, the stories of Edoardo Bianchi and Angelo Rizzoli stand out, who were also fatherless orphans with mothers in such serious difficulty that the boarding school was the only solution for giving their children a future. Bianchi was born in Milan in 1865 to a crumbling family. His father, fallen into disgrace after his well-established grocery store was destroyed by the Austrian military as reprisal, returns mutilated from the war of independence and dies shortly after, leaving mother Antonietta in poverty. Left an orphan, Edoardo is taken in by the boarding school where he learns the trade of a mechanic. He starts working at just eight years old in the city's workshops, with the goal of setting up his own business as soon as possible. This is a constant for the Martinitt: to build something of their own, without having to depend on anyone anymore or adhere to the rules imposed by others. At just twenty years old, he opens his own small business in the center, on Nirone street, which – ironically – is located just a few hundred meters from Luxottica's current headquarters. In his mechanical workshop, he produces and repairs wheelchairs for the sick, precision machinery, electric bells, surgical instruments, and bicycles, as can be clearly seen on the display window. Bianchi specializes so much in the assembly of bicycles that he invents the modern bicycle in 1888. His "bicicletto" is the first example in Italy in which the front and rear wheel have the same diameter. Bianchi is a hardworking craftsman, full of ideas, ready to churn out innovations: the use of pneumatic tires, the introduction of the motorized bicycle. He designs a special frame to make the bicycle accessible to ladies who, at the time, were hindered from riding them due to the width of their skirts: thus, the bicycle is born. Bianchi becomes a celebrity, so much so that he is invited by Queen Margherita of Savoy – she who was the first testimonial for Angelo Frescura's eyeglasses from Belluno – to showcase his invention at the park of Monza."

"⁠A necessary compromise to start the activity, but never particularly liked by the entrepreneur who, in fact, will soon clash with the Belluno partners and will immediately seek the path to independence, the freedom to be able to choose without constraints the future of his group.⁠"

"He is dealing with the game with the cumbersome Cadorino partners. A good part of the semi-finished products of the first Luxottica ends up at Metalflex. They are years of crazy and desperate work during which Leonardo dedicates himself body and soul to his enterprise, showing no consideration for anyone, they say. He begins to also produce for other Belluno companies: stamps, molds, handmade accessories, and parts of frames."