From “house of the devil” to temple of high fashion. Palazzo Acerbi, an aristocratic Milanese residence of three thousand square meters at number 3 in Corso di Porta Romana, loses its hair but not its vice. It changes vocation, but remains or, better yet, returns to being a solemn setting under the spotlight, thanks to the millionaire investment just finalized by the Venetian entrepreneur Manuel Faleschini.
It is thus that from the historic residence of Ludovico Acerbi – an eccentric gentleman who, at the time of the plague described by Alessandro Manzoni in “The Betrothed”, was considered by the Milanese to be the devil himself due to the sumptuous parties he threw every evening, regardless of the As the contagion rages, the address is preparing to become a new glamorous location in the heart of the capital of Made in Italy fashion.
Marking the turning point in fashion is Faleschini’s top-secret investment. 46 years old, two children and a turnover of 36 million euros in 2023, he is the founder and president of Waycap, a leading company in Europe in the production of hats and baseball caps supported since 2019 by the Wise Equity fund. With the transfer of 60% of the capital to Wise Equity, the rise continues. In the space of five years, the activity now revolves around the creation of 4 thousand hat models, annual production reaches three million pieces, employees reach close to 300 (of which 85% are female), distributed in the three company offices (two in Mirano and one in the province of Padua). Not only that. The clientele is made up of around eighty of the main fashion houses in the world, who create their hat collections in the Mirano headquarters. Numbers that make the Venetian entrepreneur capable in record time of transforming the passion of the boy he was in the 1980s – when «at 16, I sewed and hand-embroidered baseball caps for my schoolmates» – into a company history successful with many zeros. In fact, it was precisely around those American baseball caps that he managed to create his made in Italy empire.
The company works, the activity increases, together with the renowned partnerships and the turnover, which, according to forecasts, will close 2024 at 40 million euros. The result? While Waycap goes straight and flies high on its path, its president can afford – in every sense – to carry out investments and redevelopments of the caliber of Palazzo Acerbi in parallel. Because it is not the first of the kind that Faleschini has done, «and it will not be the last», as he himself anticipates.
The recent purchase of the address or, rather, of the entire Milanese building all stuccoed, frescoed, rooms and halls in Corso di Porta Romana, at the foot of the Velasca Tower, is the third achieved by the entrepreneur. The third of a climb which, between prestigious real estate, redevelopment in the name of elegance and sustainability and conversion into the world of luxury, starts in 2020 with the acquisition (no less than) of the historic headquarters of the stylist Krizia. Still in Milan, but this time in via Manin, in the Quadrilatero, and again of three thousand square meters (a size that Faleschini evidently likes), the operation closed for 20 million euros four years ago now, while the project is still alive today. And he lives in style.
With an important restoration and redevelopment work, costing a whopping 40 million euros, the former kingdom of Krizia was reborn to new life, becoming The Plein Hotel, aka the first hotel designed by the German fashion designer Philip Plein. Five star luxury, 16 themed suites with private sauna and gym, four restaurants, club, disco lounge and so on and so forth. In the name of luxury and exclusive entertainment, the hotel opened in September during Fashion Week, proposing itself as a new Milanese place to be with an international scope. Mission achieved by Plein and, even before, by the visionary Venetian entrepreneur. Another one. Because in 2022, just two years after the acquisition of the former Palazzo Krizia, Faleschini is already ready to launch into another venture, accompanied by another millionaire investment.
In Cortina, the entrepreneur with a flair for prestigious real estate operations buys the historic Rosapetra hotel, which becomes a luxury resort that goes without saying it, with five stars, 33 mountain design rooms, impeccable treatment, a spa among the hundred best of Europe according to the Touring Guide and privileged view of the Dolomites. A sort of dream refuge at altitude. Tireless, Faleschini has not yet focused in detail on the fate of Palazzo Acerbi and is already starting the attack, looking ahead and into the distance. «On October 24th the building officially became mine, I am now evaluating a series of hypotheses that I plan to realize, with a perfect inauguration, at the beginning of 2025, between January and February» states the founder of Waycap.
And he continues: «The only certainty at the moment is that it will not be home to offices, restaurants or hotels, but a new fashion hub: exclusive temporary or permanent showroom». He doesn’t even have time to finish the sentence and he’s already thinking about his next investment, which “maybe will be abroad”.
