In the mountain town of Agordo, the flags are flying at half-mast this Wednesday;

all social celebrations have been cancelled.

The 4,000-inhabitant town in the province of Belluno, south-east of Bozen, is the true home of entrepreneur Leonardo Del Vecchio, who died on Monday.

This is where his rise from an apprentice in precision engineering to the world's leading eyewear manufacturer began with his life's work called Luxottica, which he merged with the French lens manufacturer Essilor to form the Essilor-Luxottica group a few years ago.

On Thursday, a funeral service will be held in his honor in the “Palaluxottica” event hall, led by the bishop.

One moves into the spacious building with its massive wooden beam facade, which is only a few kilometers away from the historic company headquarters,

Christian Schubert

Economic correspondent for Italy and Greece.

  • Follow I follow

The question of succession is now mixed in with the mourning for the entrepreneur, who has written the most successful start-up story in Italy in recent decades.

Del Vecchio, who died at the age of 87, leaves the family holding Delfin based in Luxembourg, which holds important shares: Not only is it the largest shareholder in Essilor-Luxoticca with almost a third, it also holds a stake in the insurer Generali (almost 10 percent). Investment bank Mediobanca (around 20 percent), in the French real estate fund Covivio (26 percent) and in the universal bank Unicredit (2 percent).

Seven veto rights

The family fortune is estimated at 30 billion euros.

According to the will, the largest shareholder in the holding company is his wife Nicoletta Zampillo, the mother of his fourth son.

He married her in 1997 and 2010;

in between was the divorce three years after the first marriage.

Del Vecchio has six children by three women.

All descendants hold a 12.5 percent share in the holding company, but his wife Nicoletta becomes the largest shareholder with the remaining 25 percent.

Of course, Del Vecchio has spun a precise set of rules intended to ensure balance: the decisions of the shareholders can only be made with a majority of 88 percent.

Each of the seven shareholders has a right of veto.

However, the competences of the shareholders are limited.

Del Vecchio did not think much of involving his children in prominent positions in the operative eyewear business, he also curtailed their competencies in the holding company.

They can essentially only decide on the dividend policy and the approval of the balance sheet, it is said.

A five-member board of directors, to which no family members belong, decides on strategy and investments.

Double balancing act

This is where Essilor-Luxottica's future strongman comes in: Francesco Milleri, born in 1959, has been Del Vecchio's confidante for years.

After the merger into Essilor-Luxottica, to the dismay of many French people, he pushed him through from Essilor as general manager of the group.

The manager, who has a law degree and an MBA, first worked as a management consultant.

Milleri joined Luxottica to convert the IT system.

He soon caught the eye of Del Vecchio, who was always looking for talent.

In recent years, the elderly company founder and Milleri have worked very closely together.

Now Francesco Milleri will be the new chairman of the board of directors of Essilor-Luxottica and will take over the office in addition to his duties as CEO, as the group announced on Tuesday evening.

He thus faces a double balancing act: with the French at Essilor-Luxottica and with the family members of his foster father at Holding Delfin.