Enrico Mannucci's book, "Galtrucco, a Milanese story“, published by Rizzoli, was created on the occasion of Galtrucco's 150th anniversary, but does not intend to retrace its entire history, nor to follow a chronological order, from 1870 to today. It is rather a testimony, above all through images, of an important contribution to the trends of taste and fashion, to the elegance and prestige of the city.
Galtrucco owes its fame to quality of the fabrics, the beauty of the windows, the fabrics designed exclusively for stylists such as Armani and Lagerfeld, and last but not least to the always innovative content of the shops from the point of view of architecture and interior furnishings, with the big names of Ulrich and Bega. At the beginning of the new century, the company ceased trading and maintained its real estate branch, which also includes almost all the shops once under the Galtrucco brand and thus preserves a legacy of the sector of origin: for example the shop in via Montenapoleone run by Loro Piana, formerly a trading partner. Or the Salone dei Tessuti in via San Gregorio, an ante litteram showroom for Galtrucco fabrics since the XNUMXs and today a space for events or exhibitions linked above all to fashion and design.
This volume is also a dedication to the city of Milan, and traces its evolution over the decades with its most representative place, Piazza del Duomo, as a common thread. Here the combination of fashion, fabrics and interior architecture made the Galtrucco shop a point of reference for sober elegance, without pomp and excessive ostentation, typical of the "Milanese taste".
Another recurring theme in these pages is the commitment to invest capital even in the most unfavorable circumstances; for the reconstruction and resumption of activity after the two wars, for the restoration in record time of the shop in Piazza Duomo after the serious fire of 1973 and for the real estate redevelopments started years ago in a period of serious economic recession. Perhaps this too is a distinctive Milanese trait: the ambition to anticipate the way out of a crisis.
Today we have been called to a new difficult test due to the economic consequences of a pandemic, and we need to rediscover that type of entrepreneurial spirit.
°°° The author is the president of Galtrucco, which over the years has transformed itself from a quality fabric company into a real estate company, owner of the beautiful former Galtrucco shops in the Milan gallery
