“The 100 Italian entrepreneurial families” by Forbes, with lots of wine, and Antinori on the podium

The history of the company in Italy is often family history, and in many cases, it “smells” like wine. This is also testified by the recent classification of “The 100 Italian entrepreneurial families” made by the famous economic newspaper “Forbes”, which has lined up “the 100 entrepreneurial families”, which with their work and investing the accumulated savings have built their fortunes, but also those of many other families, giving employment, wealth, despite the geographical contradictions that are typical of Italian history”. And so, if the first absolute place could only be the Agnelli family, and the second there is the Amadori family, at the head of the homonymous food company, on the podium the first great name of Italian wine, that of the Antinori family, a Florentine company that has made the history of Italian wine, with over 600 years of activity, and the decisive impetus for growth given, in the last half-century, by Piero Antinori, supported by his daughters Albiera, who now presides over the group, Allegra and Alessia. At the foot of the podium, there is the Angelini family, who lead the homonymous pharmaceutical group, but also the Bertani Domains, one of the most prestigious groups in the enology of the Belpaese.
If we look at a ranking linked not only to wine but also to made in Italy food, with names such as Bagnoli (Sammontana), Balocco, Barilla and Bauli in the “top 10”, at no. 11 there is also the Benetton family, associated above all with fashion, but not only, so much so that 21invest, the investment company led by Alessandro Benetton, is a member of 36% of one of the leading groups of Italian wine, Zonin1821.
Again, at no. 38 is the Ferragamo family, whose fortune is linked above all to fashion, which has also invested in the world of Bacchus with Tenuta Il Borro, in the Arezzo area, and with Castiglion del Bosco, in Montalcino, while at no. 42 there is another piece of centuries-old history of Italian wine, linked to the Frescobaldi family, another reference reality of the Belpaese wine production, led today by Lamberto Frescobaldi, in front of another family that is in the tricolor wine myth, the Gaja family, the leading brand of the Langhe and Italian winemaking, with Angelo Gaja as the point of reference, followed by his daughters Gaia and Rossana and his son Giovanni.
Position n. 51, instead, for the Illy family, leader of the coffee, but also the protagonist in the wine, with the Mastrojanni winery, in a few years became one of the reference points of the quality of Brunello di Montalcino.
At number 56 there is the Lunelli family, which today sees Matteo Lunelli at the top, whose history is intertwined with Italian sparkling wine, with the Cantine Ferrari, an iconic brand of Trentodoc, and Italian sparkling wines (but with estates also in Umbria and Tuscany, ed.), while at no. 62 there is the Marzotto family, linked above all to the world of fashion, but decisively protagonist also in wine, with the group Santa Margherita, one of the most important realities of wine in Italy, with wineries in different regions and in many of the most important wine territories of the Belpaese.
While inseparably linked to Campania and Irpinia is the saga of the family Mastroberardino, led by Piero Mastroberardino, leader of viticulture in the area, at no. 63.
No. 67 is home to the Moratti family, whose fortune is mainly due to oil, with Saras, but who in the wine leads Castello di Cigognola, in the Oltrepò Pavese.
At number 68 there is the Moretti family, leader of an empire based on building, an entrepreneurial adventure started by Vittorio Moretti, who over the years has grown thanks to wine (now with the guidance of Francesca Moretti), with the Terra Moretti group, which has invested a lot in wine (as well as in hotels and restaurants of the highest level), starting from Franciacorta, and today is one of the most important brands of the Italian wine scene, with leading estates also in Tuscany and Sardinia.
At no. 77 there is the Polegato family, classified above all by the Geox group, but also very active in wine, with Villa Sandi, led by Giancarlo Moretti Polegato, among the brands that symbolize Prosecco, while at no. 80 there is a family that represents the history of Chianti, or the Ricasoli family, today, with Francesco Ricasoli, at the helm of that Castle of Brolio where Baron Bettino Ricasoli, in the nineteenth century, developed the first “formula” of the famous Tuscan wine. Position no. 91, on the other hand, for Tasca d’Almerita, one of the great Sicilian wine families, one of the first architects of the island’s oenological renaissance, now led by Alberto Tasca d’Almerita, while at 98 there is the Ziliani family, who, with Berlucchi and the inventiveness of Franco Ziliani, sparked off the very successful phenomenon that is now Franciacorta.
So many names linked to wine, therefore, in the history of the Italian “family” business, in a ranking where, as mentioned, there is so much of the food and beverage of Made in Italy, where there are names, or rather surnames, such as Branca and Colussi, Cremonini and De Cecco, Ercole (Saclà) and Ferrero, Fossati (Star) and Galbusera, Garavoglia (Campari group), Loaker and Mutti, Perfetti (Mentos and Chupa-Chups), Rana and Scotti, Zanetti (Caffè Segafredo) and Lavazza, in Zueg, passing through the Nonino family, at the head of the historic distillery in Friuli.