Del Vecchio, the workers welcomed him like a rock star, “Seeing him and listening to him gave great emotion”

The workers’ account of the Christmas dinners, the ovation upon arrival and the photos to immortalize it. “During the speech he was always moved”

AGORDO. Weeks and weeks of wondering who the star would be, but then the biggest ovation was always for him, awaited every time as a messiah whose parable came out of a body that at a certain point materialized and showed that Leonardo Del Vecchio it really existed. The last company parties organized at PalaLuxottica a few days before Christmas, except in the last two years due to Covid, were like this.

Opened by a moment of rejoicing towards the owner of Luxottica who walked through the door at 8 pm, took off his coat and entered with his wife and children, while thousands of employees stood up to applaud for a long time. The question that many workers have heard over the years, “have you ever seen Del Vecchio in the factory?” it shows how much the common people were interested in a feedback on the reality of a character who, due to the extraordinary nature of what he had achieved, had something mythical about it. Someone answered yes, some no. At the Christmas party, however, Del Vecchio was visible to everyone and mobile phones captured him in images and videos which were then shared and archived as evidence.

«We all waited for it to arrive», says Roberto, a Luxottica employee, «then there was an explosion. We didn’t eat before he sat down at the table and we didn’t go away until he had gone first ». «In that single file entry», Fabiano underlines for years in the company, «he always gave you the idea of ​​being very shy and, perhaps, of feeling a little embarrassed». A feeling employees had especially when their employer took the stage before the singer’s announcement. «To me», says Roberto, «it has always struck me that he was moved during the speech. He could clearly hear how his voice broke. It was the behavior of a person who loved people. I remember, for their 50 years in the Francavilla company, their emotional embrace on stage ».

This emotion was contagious. Sara confirms it. “I got goosebumps every time but it wasn’t so much the enthusiasm you felt around you, but the emotion you saw in him. He went up on stage and said a few words: he thanked everyone, wished a Merry Christmas and always had a thought not only for the employees, but also for their families. I don’t know how to explain it, but around him there was an atmosphere of magic ». “There was never anything rhetorical in his speech,” adds Fabiano, “you had the feeling there was the feeling of a good father who cared about the well-being of the workers and the factory.” Sara, who also had the opportunity to participate in meetings with him, testifies how such a feeling really existed. “He looked at every single person in the room in the face, he was interested in how the employees were doing. When new machines arrived, before the number of parts they made, he wanted to understand how the employees found themselves using them ».