A year without the smile of Cesare Ragazzi, his daughter: “He still lives his wonderful idea”

Bazzano (Bologna), 28 December 2025 – I am 365 days have passed. A year without the smile of Cesare Ragazziwithout that joy emanating from the well-known Bolognese entrepreneur and television personality, originally from Bazzano, who became famous in the Seventies for the invention and advertising promotion of a trichological prosthesis, i.e. a non-invasive transplant that was applied to the scalp using a tapewhich Cesare himself defined as: “A toupee of natural hair”. He loved to repeat: “Anything can happen to a bald man who has a wonderful idea in his head.” Cesare Ragazzi was like that. “An extraordinary man, constantly driven by enthusiasm”, recalls him today daughter Simona.

What quality do you think you inherited from your father? “Stubbornness, but also the determination to pursue one’s goals with tenacity, as he taught us children. Dad believed in never giving up. But most of all, dad had an uncommon generosity: he never kept anything just for himself, his freedom was enough for him.”

A freedom also to think big, which allowed him to arrive at his famous ‘wonderful idea’.

“Yes. An idea in which he deeply believed and which brought him to fame, to the point of building a small empire and entering the homes of Italians through his advertisements. His entrepreneurial project was a mission: he loved the fact that innovation solved not only an aesthetic problem, but also a deeply personal one, which can often make people feel uncomfortable. With his enthusiasm and his ideas, he wanted to allow them to walk with their heads held high, finding a new way to accept themselves and feel more confident, to gain greater self-confidence. Dad he never stopped researching and studying, so much so that even after leaving the company in 2011, he recently created two patents to improve his system”.

Cesare with his ideas became an icon. How was success experienced in the family?

“We always lived it calmly, without it upsetting the intimacy of our daily lives. His work allowed him to travel far and wide across Italy. He loved meeting customers in person, really being there. He had almost become a human navigator: when I wanted to visit a city, he was the one who showed me streets, routes and restaurants to try.”

Not only places visited, but above all unique friendships. With Lucio Dalla, for example, what relationship did you have?

“A long and sincere friendship bound them. She told me about the summers when she went to visit him in the Tremiti and how in tune they were in the way they lived life. For this reason, when I took care of the creation of the statue of Lucio Dalla, I wanted to involve my father in the modeling phase, to remain as faithful as possible, as he had always been an attentive, sensitive observer, capable of grasping the details”.

His father left his mark on the people he met. Does this still emerge today?

“Walking through the streets I often meet people who stop to share a memory of my father and his youth. His roots lie here. As a young man he played in a musical group, I Vagabondi, and entertained the public between Anzola and Bazzano. But the connection with the territory was also strong in his entrepreneurial activity, which in fact began with a small workshop in Ponte Ronca di Zola Predosa”.

What can it teach today’s entrepreneurs?

“I believe that I can teach the young generations that doing business requires a true vocation. You can’t just look at business: it is a complex and risky path, which requires great passion. Today more than ever we need entrepreneurs who really believe in their projects.”