Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Marco, grandson of the founder and current owner, who told us the story of his business.
The Gioielleria Recalcati Davide e Figlio is located in an elegant building from the early twentieth century. On the facade appear the faces of the two musicians who made Bergamo even more beautiful, namely Donizetti and Mayer.
The shop was opened by grandfather Davide who "was definitely an enterprising guy!", tells Marco Recalcati - born in 1960. He is the current owner of the jewellery store and manages it with his wife.
"My grandfather went to the great war, he was called to the front when he was still seventeen, he was stubborn and brave and he was one of the few to resist the Piave and go back!"
As often happened in those years, young people did not dream of one or job or another, it was thought that life gave you an opportunity, while hunger did the rest. Nobody would have dreamed of giving up the chance to have a shop.
So it was for Davide who, after only two years of assisting a goldsmith, opened his business at a very young age.
Marco tells us with his kind ways of this generous and reckless grandfather who voluntarily left for Africa (with Tentorio's grandfather) and that during the war he went by train to Chiasso, during the bombing, to get goods for all the merchants of Bergamo.
A hard worker who didn’t take time off for holidays and who we still seem to see bent over the work table carefully stored in the back of the shop.
Marco, showing us the machinery that his grandfather used to engrave the wedding rings - still in use - remembers the many times when women arrived with ruined rings to get them fixed and at first glance he said: "Do you have a sick child at home?"
He knew that it was the mercury of the thermometres that broke the gold down and that wear and tear depended on it.
Davide Recalcati was one of the "Boys of '99", those young men called to the front who were not yet eighteen and who in 1981 received the Diploma of Honour and honorary citizenship of Fossalta di Piave.
Marco, son of Mario and PierCarla - one of the first women to graduate from Bocconi - began working at the family jewellery store after an experience in Milan in Corso Buenos Aires where he was a photographer.
His father was a man of great commercial flair. He did the advertising for the newspapers and was one of the first to perceive the sales potential of Swatch watches in the 1980s. "He bought 450 in one go and in a short time he managed to sell them all!"
If the promotional tools of those years were the contacts 'on the street' and the shop windows, for Marco today the on-line presence is essential, in particular social media. As a self-taught student, he studied and started to use social media with care, competence and with excellent results.
Marco, more than a merchant, defines himself as a consultant with a strong aptitude for reading the traits and the verbal and non-verbal communication of those in front of him. He is especially interested in people and is deeply convinced that only teamwork can make a difference.
He was the founder of the Bergamo InCentro Merchants Association, of which he is president and tireless promoter. He first sensed the opportunity to use WhatsApp groups to network and did it so well that they come to ask him for advice from other cities.
"The Association is important because together we count more and it is easier to make our voices heard, as well as to grow and renew ourselves. Unfortunately, we are in a time when our work is struggling but it’s not worth being one of what I call the 'serial complainers'."
Marco is almost sixty years old and has his first grandson on the way. He is as stubborn as his grandfather, intuitive as his dad and tenacious as only a true enthusiast can be.
“You don't need to cry. What did they say? You have to be hungry and be curious."
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Marco, grandson of the founder and current owner, who told us the story of his business.
The Gioielleria Recalcati Davide e Figlio is located in an elegant building from the early twentieth century. On the facade appear the faces of the two musicians who made Bergamo even more beautiful, namely Donizetti and Mayer.
The shop was opened by grandfather Davide who "was definitely an enterprising guy!", tells Marco Recalcati - born in 1960. He is the current owner of the jewellery store and manages it with his wife.
"My grandfather went to the great war, he was called to the front when he was still seventeen, he was stubborn and brave and he was one of the few to resist the Piave and go back!"
As often happened in those years, young people did not dream of one or job or another, it was thought that life gave you an opportunity, while hunger did the rest. Nobody would have dreamed of giving up the chance to have a shop.
So it was for Davide who, after only two years of assisting a goldsmith, opened his business at a very young age.
Marco tells us with his kind ways of this generous and reckless grandfather who voluntarily left for Africa (with Tentorio's grandfather) and that during the war he went by train to Chiasso, during the bombing, to get goods for all the merchants of Bergamo.
A hard worker who didn’t take time off for holidays and who we still seem to see bent over the work table carefully stored in the back of the shop.
Marco, showing us the machinery that his grandfather used to engrave the wedding rings - still in use - remembers the many times when women arrived with ruined rings to get them fixed and at first glance he said: "Do you have a sick child at home?"
He knew that it was the mercury of the thermometres that broke the gold down and that wear and tear depended on it.
Davide Recalcati was one of the "Boys of '99", those young men called to the front who were not yet eighteen and who in 1981 received the Diploma of Honour and honorary citizenship of Fossalta di Piave.
Marco, son of Mario and PierCarla - one of the first women to graduate from Bocconi - began working at the family jewellery store after an experience in Milan in Corso Buenos Aires where he was a photographer.
His father was a man of great commercial flair. He did the advertising for the newspapers and was one of the first to perceive the sales potential of Swatch watches in the 1980s. "He bought 450 in one go and in a short time he managed to sell them all!"
If the promotional tools of those years were the contacts 'on the street' and the shop windows, for Marco today the on-line presence is essential, in particular social media. As a self-taught student, he studied and started to use social media with care, competence and with excellent results.
Marco, more than a merchant, defines himself as a consultant with a strong aptitude for reading the traits and the verbal and non-verbal communication of those in front of him. He is especially interested in people and is deeply convinced that only teamwork can make a difference.
He was the founder of the Bergamo InCentro Merchants Association, of which he is president and tireless promoter. He first sensed the opportunity to use WhatsApp groups to network and did it so well that they come to ask him for advice from other cities.
"The Association is important because together we count more and it is easier to make our voices heard, as well as to grow and renew ourselves. Unfortunately, we are in a time when our work is struggling but it’s not worth being one of what I call the 'serial complainers'."
Marco is almost sixty years old and has his first grandson on the way. He is as stubborn as his grandfather, intuitive as his dad and tenacious as only a true enthusiast can be.
“You don't need to cry. What did they say? You have to be hungry and be curious."
