Leonardo DiCaprio is on vacation in our area, thanks to the big name of marble Gualtiero Vanelli of GVM, who presented the RC2 last evening on Panem Beach in Pietrasanta, a new company he created with the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu. Slim holds 40% of the shares. The new company will deal with big projects related to marble. “The friendship with Leonardo was born about fifteen years ago – says Vanelli -. We met during the holidays thanks to a mutual friend, the great American entrepreneur Ron Berkeley. From there we started dating and we worked together for his foundation started making plans. I’ve been inviting Leonardo to visit Versilia for several years. He called me a few days ago to tell me he was going to Pitti Uomo in Florence and I had some advice on where to go asked. We met in Florence, we had a chat about our projects and some mutual friends”. “Leonardo really liked Versilia. Leonardo put his boat in front of our coast and stayed five days. He was accompanied by his father and some friends. Then he visited my mine and laboratory, visited Pietrasanta. He visited our visited the area and I must say Leonardo liked it very much”.
Returning to the Mexican tycoon (9th richest man in the world by Forbes), the company with Venelli is his first investment in Italy. Slim operates in a range of sectors from telecommunications to banking and insurance. He was the richest man in the world from 2010 to 2013 and the largest shareholder of The New York Times Company as of 2016. According to Fortune magazine, his empire makes up 5% of Mexico’s GDP. The family vault owns banks and restaurant chains, tobacco plantations. In 2012 his company Grupo Carso became the majority shareholder (35% shares) of the Spanish football club Real Oviedo and 30% of the Mexican football clubs Club León and Club de Fútbol Pachuca.
Vanelli graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications at St. Clare’s College, Oxford, but he also has a degree in Cultural Languages from the University of Parma, and an honorary degree from the Academy of Design Arts from Florence. From 2008 to 2012, he was the director and vice-president of the Lalit Kala Akademi. Vanelli has many VIP friends and recently shot some scenes in his quarry for the new film Brutalist by Adrien Nicolas Brody, another Oscar winner.