Francesco Della Barba

I was born in 1950 in Treviso, Italy, and graduated in Economics at the University of Venice.

In 1980 I joined the Benetton Group, the Italian fashion giant that had stores in over 120 countries and shocked the world with its success in both fashion retail and Formula 1 motor racing.

I have worked very closely with Luciano Benetton, its Founder.

I was Executive Vice-President of Benetton USA from the start of the new US market development in 1984 until 1990, when we went from 25 stores in the US to 750 stores in the first three years.

I was also responsible for the southwest of England and all the Middle East, living in Dubai and Beirut until 2006.

During all these years I have collected a number of anecdotes and personal experiences that I have now put together in these memories which I called "Benetton, The True Story" because it reveals, in a colloquial and funny way, "behind-the-scene" stories and unpublished details of many public events on Benetton, the family and the brand.