The dark side of industrial giantsFrom Fiat to Luxottica: how and why empires crumbleDynasties on the wane, starting with the Del Vecchio case. In Italy, over the past thirty years, the leading figures in the automotive, telecoms and textile sectors have disappeared… Are we doomed to embrace ‘small is beautiful’?byStefano Cingolani5 SEP 26
The heir and the mentorDel Vecchio Jr and Francesco Milleri: the financial and family history behind the Luxottica splitLeonardino leaves EssilorLuxottica, accuses “the family friend” Milleri and sees his dream of becoming the designated heir vanish. A divided dynasty, ten billion that never materialised and a succession turned into a family tragedybyStefano Cingolani27 AUG 26
end of a cycleThe chaos behind the LMDV-Milleri splitLeonardo Maria’s resignation, the coldness of Delfin’s CEO, the dynastic feud over the inheritance, uncertainty surrounding the holding company’s strategy and Essilux’s difficulties. A crisis that is shaking Italian capitalismbyStefano Cingolani26 AUG 26
businessLeonardo Maria Del Vecchio is stepping down from his roles at EssilorLuxottica“I do not want to become the founder’s son used to symbolise a continuity with which, on certain fundamental principles, I no longer identify. This is not the Luxottica I grew up in. And it is not the Luxottica I remember alongside my father,” he wrote in a letter to the group’s chairman and CEO25 AUG 26
