Santa Bona, Treviso, 1955

Clothing stores in Europe were very different then from today. A long wooden counter separated the customers from the salesclerks, and the clothes were hidden away, except for a few things in the window. The customer described what they wanted to the salesclerk, who then went away and picked out some clothes that might be suitable. Even if the customer bought something, they often did not get what they were really looking for.

Luciano was twenty years old and had been behind the counter for a year when he realized what he wanted to do. The kind of store and the kind of clothes he dreamed of did not exist. In his dreams, the store did not have a counter, the clothes were easy to look at, stylish, and reasonably priced. Young people came into this store without their parents and without knowing what they wanted. They came out with comfortable, colorful clothes. There were thousands of young people, millions of them, out there, but they did not have anywhere to shop.

After work, Luciano did not go straight home, but instead went to the little workshop where his sister worked. In her spare time, his sister designed and made brightly-colored sweaters for the family. In a country where people all wore gray, blue, and dark red sweaters, this was something different.

When he arrived, Giuliana was still working at her machine. He waited until she had finished, then they walked out of the workshop. On the way, he turned to her and said, "Giuliana? Why are we working for other people? Why don't we start our own business?"

"Because we're too young," she replied.

"You make them and I'll sell them. Why not?"

"That's just like you," she said. She was tired after the long day.

"You always say, 'if you could make more.'" She was quiet for a long time. As they reached home, she said, "We're going to have to buy a knitting-machine."

That night, over dinner, they announced the news to the rest of the family. Rosa thought they had gone mad. Did they want to send the whole family back into poverty?

"Don't worry," Giuliana said, "we won't give up our day jobs. We'll work at night and in our spare time. You know we can do it."

"Where's the money going to come from to buy this machine?" asked Gilberto.

Although he was only fourteen, Gilberto was the financial brain of the family. The youngest brother, Carlo, who was beginning to show the same abilities, agreed with him.

"Yeah, where's the money going to come from?" he asked.