Urbano Cairo: “My father was my myth, he taught me that nothing is impossible”

“He was not just a dad to me. He was a myth, an example, the figure I always tried to be like in life. There is so much of my dad in the man I became and in the satisfactions I got. He has always pushed me to cultivate my dreams, without ever imposing them on myself, teaching me that they come true only through work, enthusiasm, ambition, the desire to do more and more, not to be satisfied, not to give up, not to say never ‘it is impossible’, but ‘what can I do to succeed’. Today is a very sad and painful day. A part of me goes away and the feeling I feel is of an excruciating loss, because that with my dad was really a relationship unique and symbiotic “.

Urbano Cairo is moved when he talks about his father Giuseppe, who passed away yesterday at the age of 90. The voice of the man used to climbing every mountain, president of RCS, Turin and an infinity of other things, usually ringing and full of enthusiasm, this time is broken by emotion. Because he has children at 6 or 65 and there is no age, however advanced, of a parent who can make the loss of him accept with less pain. And if the certainty that those who have left us has had a long, beautiful and intense life can be a relief, the idea that the many small and large daily gestures of love can no longer be repeated is always devastating.

President, would you like to rewind the tape of memories?

“I don’t remember a single moment when I didn’t feel him close. I tried to emulate him, ever since I wore shorts. Did you know my father played soccer? In Alexandria, he was a physical center forward, 182cm tall, fast. , great shot, good with both feet. He won the regional Allievi championship in 1949-50 and then played in the current Primavera. Then he should have moved to Fiorentina, but grandfather did not let him go. So he moved from Abazia di Masio to Milan and opened his own business. First sweets, then the world of furniture: he was an incredible seller “.

“From an early age, the thing I loved most was going with him and seeing him work, being together with the adults. He didn’t always take me, but that tour of customers between Brianza and Piedmont was a party for me. Dad was brilliant, nice, empathetic , he was in tune with everyone. I looked at him in admiration. Nobody could resist him: he would have sold a refrigerator to the Eskimos. It was thanks to him that I began to love sports “.

“Well, I had always liked football, I played it. I was a darting winger, if we had played together I would have given my dad several assists. He came to see me and I tried to do well to satisfy him. But the first sport that I had. conquered, thanks to my father, was cycling. He worked for the Girgi furniture factory and Mobilgirgi became a sponsor of cycling first and then basketball. In ’69 -70 they decided to do the Six Days in Milan and dad became a sort of manager. surprise won by the German couple Kemper and Oldenburg from Mobilgirgi. An incredible emotion. I watched them as you do with comic book heroes. Those days with my father are unforgettable “.

His father also played a part in his love for Taurus, of which he was vice president.

“In the period before the purchase of Torino in 2005, my father had not been well, we were very worried about his health, luckily then everything was resolved and I, in order to try to keep him active and distract him, I asked him to come with me to the meetings with the then mayor Chiamparino. It was he, together with my mother, who convinced me to take the plunge. And he lived the Bull with emotion and passion. He loved coming to the stadium with me, he awaited the match as an appointment “.

In your professional climbs, did you give you any advice?

“Dad did more, he gave me an example. Without needing to talk and always respecting my autonomy. I learned by seeing him. We discussed everything: politics, sports, television, companies, advertising”.

What if he were to say something in which you are similar?

“Surely in never being satisfied, but I remember what an entrepreneur friend of my father, Maurizio Vitale, told me of the Turin hosiery and hosiery factory that later became Robe di Kappa: as your father you know the art of the question, you still get to know what interests you “.

In the last period you have been constantly commuting between Milan and Alessandria.

“Yes, despite my commitments I was with him almost every day, even the one before he died. We joked together. I seek consolation in thinking that now my father is back close to my mother who instead died when he was 78. I wish this moment would never come. I am the eldest child and I know that my parents have always expected so much from me. My regret was that my mother was unable to see so many things I did, the purchase of La 7, the ascent of Rcs, the Bull in Europe. But now I know that my dad, who was next to me, will now finally be able to tell him about them “.