THE FOUNDER MARIO FUSI - THE FIRST GENERATION (1946 - 1971)
Mario Fusi was born on 3rd June 1922, from a family of modest origins, in Bonazza (Tavarnelle V.P.) in the heart of Tuscany and “Chiantishire”, an area rich in olive trees and vineyards, today famous all over the world for the production of wines and oils of optimal quality. From youth he showed love and passion for these lands and particularly for the olive trees present in the countryside where he was born and grew-up.
Mario married Marianna in 1950 and had three sons: Fabrizio, Gianna and Lucia, who from they were little were amused to observe the peasants while they worked in the fields; they helped them during the harvesting of the olives or played hide-and-seek amongst the plants. Their usual snack was a slice of bread with freshly squeezed oil.
Mario, thanks to his innate entrepreneurial gifts and equipped with an original and bright personality around 1946 “with the aid of the Uncle Carlo who lent him 5,000 Lira”, revealed his qualities, creating a real bartering activity. Mario, with horse and cart went around to barter herrings, pasta and anchovies in exchange for good oil and grain that he then re-sold to the traders of the area.
He was able, in this way, with his siblings Gino and Adriano, to create a real business activity that developed further in the following years. In 1956, a big freeze severely hit all cultivations of Tuscany, in particular the olive plants and their production, obliging F.lli Fusi to acquire oil from outside the region: first, in Puglia, Liguria and in the area of Lake Garda and successively in Spain, Greece and Tunisia, which is the area of the Mediterranean basin thus beginning to acquire a strong knowledge of the various typologies of oils produced in these lands, both from a qualitative and chemical, point of view and an organoleptic one. This deep knowledge of the product, would allow F.lli Fusi “to specialize in the trade” acquiring knowledge of chemical analyses and the organoleptic characteristics of the various typologies of oil, necessary credibility and professional competence that was indispensable to assert themselves in the oil market and to assure, over the years, the main Italian customers. Such knowledge has become one of the main “strong-points” of our companies, always allowing us to offer the customer the product demanded at the best price and to supply all the technical knowledge and relative analytics of the product.
THE INCLUSION OF FABRIZIO FUSI - THE SECOND GENERATION (1971 - 1996)
In 1971, the first-born son Fabrizio began to accompany his father Mario and uncles Gino and Adriano in the business activity.
Equipped with the same passion as his father and remarkable entrepreneurial intuition Fabrizio, with a deep and personal knowledge of the characteristics of the product and the main areas of production,was able in a few years to increase the trade relationship,increase
economic volumes and assert the firm at international level.
At the beginning of the Nineteen Nineties Fabrizio, with the guide of his father Mario, with sisters Gianna and Lucia, and brother-in-law Sestilio decided to found two firms: Castel del Chianti in 1991 and Fiorentini Firenze in 1996, taking on the entire direction.
FABRIZIO AND SONS - THE THIRD GENERATION (from 1996)
After a few years, the companies received a precious contribution with the entrance of the first-born son of Fabrizio, Matteo, who, furnished with an original and bright personality and with an uncommon graphic ability, quickly showed love and passion for the family activity and by all accounts was “the photocopy” of grander Mario; he immediately worked alongside his father in the selection of best extra virgin oils, personally assisting the loading of goods onto ships in Spain, Greece and Tunisia verifying conformity. In 1997, unfortunately, due to a terrible incident, Matteo suddenly passed away, leaving the family in the greatest of pain.
Although Matteo, had worked only a few years, the footprint of his young work is still present today in the organisational processes but, above all, he is in the hearts of all those people who have known him. From 1997, with the withdrawal of Gianna, Sestilio and Lucia from the companies, Fabrizio’s wife Vanna and their other three sons of entered: second-born child Martina as financial and administrative manager of the group, Michela and finally Massimo in 2009 who with love and passion works tenaciously alongside his father, searching to inherit knowledge and experience in order to render the group even more efficient and competitive.
