Leonardo Del Vecchio was only 7 years old when his mother, a widow without enough resources to care for him, left him at the Martinitt institute in Milan. He spent seven years there, a period that, as he later recounted, marked him forever.
At 14, he began working as an apprentice, while studying drawing and engraving at night. That trade eventually brought him closer to the world of eyeglass frames.
In 1961, he founded Luxottica alongside two partners. Decades later, the group incorporated brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Sunglass Hut. Del Vecchio died in 2022, at 87, with a fortune of more than 27 billion dollars. 👓✨