Antonio Gozzi, from Liguria, in Genoa leads the Duferco group present in 29 countries, with six factories in Italy, France and Denmark: he is president of Federacciai and one of the vice-presidents of Confindustria. Gioconda Gritti together with her husband opened the three Michelin star restaurant in Brusaporto ‘Da Vittoriò’ in Brusaporto (Bergamo), today the center of a restaurant, catering and hospitality group with 635 employees.
They are among the 25 new Knights of Labor appointed by the President of the Republic on the occasion of June 2nd. Giorgio Marsiaj, from Turin, vice-president of Confindustria, founded Sabelt in 1972 for the production of seat belts, grew with high-end products also for sport, supplied seven Formula One teams, and entered aviation and space by creating restraint systems for the international space station ISS. In the agri-food sector Marina Cvetic, Chieti, among the main producers of Montepulciano with the Masciarelli Tenute Agricole winery founded by her husband to enhance the native Abruzzo vines. Giacomo Ponti, Novara, is president of Federvini: the family company has its roots in Ghemma (Novara), since 1787: it has been synonymous with ‘acetò’ for 9 generations. The Sicilian Giusepina Vitale founded Prezzemolo & Vitale with her husband, from a small shop in Palermo to distribution and high quality gastronomy, with ten points of sale in Palermo and six in London, and into e-commerce. Ambrogio Invernizzi is president of the Inalpi dairy company, founded by his father in Moretta (Cuneo). Michela Pallini in Rome is president and CEO of the family company that has been producing spirits since 1875, today with over 100 bitters, syrups and liqueurs (such as Mistrà): 3 million liters a year. Bruno Piraccini is co-founder of Orogel, the Cesena agricultural cooperative that is a leader in frozen foods from seed to table. Sabato D’amico is CEO of the family company D&D in Pontecagnano Faiano (Salerno), producing canned food. Roberto Coin founded the artisan goldsmith company of the same name in the 1970s in Vicenza, made in Italy with exports to 60 countries. The blast chillers for food by Irinox, born in Corbanese, on the outskirts of Treviso, are an excellence, even in Silicon Valley: they called her “the lady of cold”, Katia Da Ros, CEO of the company founded by her father; she was vice-president of Confindustria with responsibility for the environment, sustainability and culture. Lorenzo Delladio leads the sportswear company “Lasportiva” in Trento, founded by his grandfather as an artisan boot workshop for lumberjacks and farmers in the Dolomite valleys. Giorgio Girondi, Verona, is president of Ufi Filters, 22 factories, produces filters for automotive (with 10 formula one teams), nautical and aerospace.
There is also a Messina
Vincenzo Andronaco, originally from Messina, who emigrated to Germany to work as a construction worker, founded the Andronaco Group which markets Italian gastronomic specialties, with nine distribution centers, 10 supermarkets and bistros, 300 employees. Matterino Dogliani (Cuneo) is the founder of the holding Fininc, with Inc and the Sis consortium he creates and manages infrastructure works (such as motorways) with a portfolio of orders of over 1.5 billion and 2,350 employees.
Giuseppe Fontana in Veduccio con Colzano (Monza and Brianza) is a resident of the family company, Fontana Gruppo, among the world leaders for screws and bolts: 26 factories in the world, 4 thousand employees. Sergio Fontana, founder of Farmalabor in Canosa di Puglia, is in the pharmaceutical industry. Carlo Lastrucci is president of Powersoft, founded by his sons Luca and Claudio with Antonio Peruch in a garage in Florence, has 4 factories and is present in 80 countries with leading technologies for professional audio, such as amplifiers. Giacomo Ibba’s family company, founded in Oristano, is among the leading large-scale retailers in Sardinia and Central Italy. Elisabetta Moro is president of Pfm, founded with her husband, an excellence in packaging machinery, in Torrebelvicino (Vicenza). Giancarlo Negro leads Links Management and Technology, Lecce, founded in 1999 with 3 employees and today group leader of seven software development and IT services companies. Alberto Sorbini, Milan, is president of the Enervit supplements company. Marco Trombetti, Rome, leads Translated, the AI translation platform founded in 1999 with his wife: its 400 thousand customers also include Google and Uber. Patrizia Zucchi leads the Socogas energy group of Fidenza (Parma), founded by her father Renzo and mother Iole in 1967: 250 employees, handling 50 thousand tons of LPG per year.