In a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair Italia, Alessandro Benetton — president of the family holding Edizione SpA and founder of 21 Invest — describes a life that has finally found its balance. At 62, the son of Benetton Group co-founder Luciano Benetton talks about independence, generational change and why his three children still come first. For a shop built around pieces people keep — from jewellery to carefully chosen bags — his insistence on longevity over noise feels familiar.
Three seasons: gut, head, heart
Benetton’s latest book, Mai fermi (“Never standing still”), published by Mondadori, frames his mantra of constant questioning. Looking back, he sketches three chapters. Youth, he says, was all gut: leaving Italy for the United States and then London to prove he could walk on his own feet. A second chapter belonged to the head — building 21 Invest, when numbers and strategy ruled. Today he calls a third season “the heart”: ideas ordered, impulse disciplined, and a willingness to stay present. Elle and Zazoom both summarise the same arc from the Vanity Fair conversation: not a retreat from work, but a recalibration of what work is for.
Family first, and saying no
Asked what never changes, Benetton is blunt: his children come before everything. Agnese (26), Tobias (23) and Luce (19) have lived with him since his marriage ended six years ago; he credits each with teaching him something different — aesthetics, the meeting of science and spirit, and the impact of one’s actions on others. He also speaks warmly of Gloria Tonon, the Treviso model and entrepreneur with whom he appeared at the Venice Film Festival this year; Elle reports their Cortina and Venice appearances as a discreet public step in a relationship he describes as mature and steadying. His greatest personal freedom, he says, is the liberty to say no when something fails to convince him.
Discontinuity over copying the founder
On succession — a sore spot for many Italian family firms — Benetton argues that failure comes from forcing the next generation into the founder’s exact shoes. Better to prize discontinuity. At Edizione, roughly 80 per cent of management and 75 per cent of the business perimeter have changed since 2022. Shared value is his model of profit: he cites Forno d’Asolo’s family-friendly workplace and Rome airport’s large photovoltaic field as proof that performance and social responsibility can reinforce each other. Luciano’s lasting lesson was never to quit — even when you finish last, finish with respect.
That mix of heritage and fresh direction is what lasting style asks for: refined earrings, a pendant from our necklaces edit, or a classic handbag built to travel with you for years.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia; Elle; Zazoom; Mondadori (Mai fermi).
