We visited Italy many times over 30 years. We called on Brembo in Bergamo. Brembo is one of the top brake suppliers in the world serving high level brands suck as Porsche, Ferrari, and many racing teams globally. The first time I met them a young engineer greeted me at the door. Now, they employ a few thousand people. I attended the wedding of my Euro market leader based in Italy. She fell in love with one of the handsome engineering men. Now they have three children and lead Brembo’s NA OEM business. The wedding was in a tiny Presbyterian church in Bergamo. The reception was on top of one of the ridges and it included 12 courses. What a wonderful memory. That young engineer is Raffaello Cornolti. We remain connected today.
Thank you for these great stories: I’ve always been a car girl. Learned to drive at 17 on a Dodge Coronet 440, my father’s family sedan. In CA I owned & drove two Ford Cortina’s — a Mark II in SF and a Mark I Lotus in LA. How do we know each other? Now I am in club Fiat500🇮🇹 cabrio.
I invited Raffaello to Florida to join us for the Daytona 24 Hour race. He wanted to work this event, but the Brembo leadership would not allow him to go. We had 20 guests, most were top brake engineers of UK/EU. Raff loved it. He was reading American car magazines to learn car language in English. He asked me, “ Rob, “What is WFO?” I told him, in America at that time magazines would not print bad words. WFO meant Wide Fucking Open for the throttle. Next time Sue and I were in Bergamo, we invited Raffaello, his wife, and their young son to join us for dinner. After dinner Raff turned to me and said, “Perfect dinner, two women no talking.” His wife had zero English and Sue had studied German only. Brembo became a large client and we sold them millions of dollars of disc brakes, for three different businesses, PFC, Dana, and Hawk, where I was president.
We visited Italy many times over 30 years. We called on Brembo in Bergamo. Brembo is one of the top brake suppliers in the world serving high level brands suck as Porsche, Ferrari, and many racing teams globally. The first time I met them a young engineer greeted me at the door. Now, they employ a few thousand people. I attended the wedding of my Euro market leader based in Italy. She fell in love with one of the handsome engineering men. Now they have three children and lead Brembo’s NA OEM business. The wedding was in a tiny Presbyterian church in Bergamo. The reception was on top of one of the ridges and it included 12 courses. What a wonderful memory. That young engineer is Raffaello Cornolti. We remain connected today.
Thank you for these great stories: I’ve always been a car girl. Learned to drive at 17 on a Dodge Coronet 440, my father’s family sedan. In CA I owned & drove two Ford Cortina’s — a Mark II in SF and a Mark I Lotus in LA. How do we know each other? Now I am in club Fiat500🇮🇹 cabrio.
My old boss and dear friend died in Italy 🇮🇹 driving a Fiat 500. He crashed into a VW and both drivers died.
Italian travel memories are the best, especially when they are so personal🍷
I invited Raffaello to Florida to join us for the Daytona 24 Hour race. He wanted to work this event, but the Brembo leadership would not allow him to go. We had 20 guests, most were top brake engineers of UK/EU. Raff loved it. He was reading American car magazines to learn car language in English. He asked me, “ Rob, “What is WFO?” I told him, in America at that time magazines would not print bad words. WFO meant Wide Fucking Open for the throttle. Next time Sue and I were in Bergamo, we invited Raffaello, his wife, and their young son to join us for dinner. After dinner Raff turned to me and said, “Perfect dinner, two women no talking.” His wife had zero English and Sue had studied German only. Brembo became a large client and we sold them millions of dollars of disc brakes, for three different businesses, PFC, Dana, and Hawk, where I was president.