A Sicilian story. The important ones. For the simplicity with which they start and the goal they reach, but above all for the way in which they happen.
Of those that start from even a small town, a community in the center of the island where it is easier to dream of leaving than to think of being able to stay and build a small but great empire.
The Arena family began its journey from Valguarnera Caropepe, first with the distribution of Pozzillo water, sun milk and other Sicilian brands (1922) and then transforming the legacy transmitted in 1978 into an important reality in the large-scale retail trade.
Giovanni Arena, recently appointed Knight of Labor by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the only Sicilian among the 25, he is the witness and the interpreter, the executor and the synthesis of the work of a large family that has made the union and the ability to work and invest a beautiful entrepreneurial and employment tale in the Sicilian territories.
Interviewed by Maurizio Scaglione and Giuseppe Bianca, the leader of the group of the same name which has over 190 sales points, 3300 employees and a turnover of 1.2 billion euros, focuses on the history of the family, on the many passing of the baton from one era to another, on the investments made over time and on the Covid years which presented themselves as an unprecedented unknown, were overcome together with the other difficulties.
In addition to the birth of the brand Decò, of which he is one of the main inspirers, Arena is also national president of the VèGè Group and councilor of the Bank of Italy – Catania Branch.
