I come from the province of Lecce, in Salento, one of the southernmost areas of Italy. For the moment, I prefer not to mention the name of my hometown for personal reasons.

I grew up in Lecce, considered the capital of Salento and the last major city of south-eastern Italy in the region of Puglia.

I am the son of a family of great workers in the construction industry. A family that started from zero and, through passion, sacrifice and love, managed to build one of the largest real estate projects in the history of the city of Lecce: three hundred apartments in two years, built by my father and the companies working alongside him, without any business partners.

My father Giuseppe started from a small plumbing business and eventually built projects involving more than one hundred workers and numerous companies.

I have never really known whether to call him a madman or a great man. In the end, I prefer to consider him my first example.

My mother Valeria was the calmer and more balanced part of the family. She managed the accounting side of the companies while also taking extraordinary care of me and my sister AnnaChiara.

At home, the crazy one was probably my father. The more balanced part was my mother. Two great workers, both fundamental, but with very different visions.

At eighteen, after graduating as a Mechanical Technician, I was uncertain whether to continue my studies or enter the family businesses. Deep inside I had artistic dreams: I wanted to become either an actor or a fashion designer.

In the end, I chose the path of the family businesses.

I witnessed economic success from very close. I saw construction sites, workers, companies, enthusiasm, extraordinary results and also a great amount of wealth generated by the family businesses.

Cars that many people consider symbols of success passed through my family: Mercedes S-Class, Maserati, Jaguar, SLK and also a Ferrari F430 owned by my father, which I had the opportunity to use for a period of time.

As for me personally, at twenty-one I was driving a Mercedes C-Class Sport Coupé and later a BMW 335 Biturbo capable of reaching speeds close to 280 km/h.

I covered many miles in those years at crazy speeds, and even today I thank God that I am still alive.

I do not tell these stories to show off. I tell them because they are part of my journey.

At nineteen I already had my own business. I worked on projects for public institutions, mainly school renovations and other public works.

For a period I also entered the aluminium and steel fabrication sector. Among the most important projects were works carried out for Avio Propulsione Aerospaziale and Ferrovie Sud Est.

I personally managed thirty workers. I was very young, and it was far from easy.

During the years in which the three hundred apartments were being built, I also began working in marketing through Magic Life, a family company promoted through local television in Salento.

During those years I launched territorial advertising campaigns using large 6×3 billboards across the province.

In 2010 I founded EstremoLemboEst.com S.r.l., dedicated to events, culture and tourism promotion. Its slogan was “Only Quality Salento”.

Through EstremoLemboEst.com I also promoted cultural and musical initiatives.

Among them I fondly remember supporting the production of the album “Lo Specchio” by Francesca Romana Perrotta.

I strongly believed in that project and personally decided to support it.

During the same period, Umberto Bruno was born, a project that aimed to become a symbol of Made in Italy.

With Umberto Bruno we organised numerous events, evenings and promotional activities throughout Salento.

I have kept photographs, videos, images of models wearing my creations, promotional materials and memories of a period full of energy, creativity and ambition.

The project also reached television through various collaborations and media appearances, including the programme Fashion One.

Among the most beautiful memories of that period are also the Umbertine, an initiative connected to the Umberto Bruno project.

I remember Leandra, Giulia and Angelica with great affection.

Sadly, Angelica left us far too soon following a road accident. Time passes, but some people and some memories remain forever in the hearts of those who lived them.

During those years I also had the opportunity to take Umberto Bruno beyond the borders of Italy.

I was invited to London for an exclusive event held at Aura, one of the best-known venues in Mayfair, located in St James’s Street, just a short walk from Green Park and the Buckingham Palace area, the historic residence of Queen Elizabeth II.

For someone who had grown up in Southern Italy, arriving in a place like Mayfair was an unforgettable experience.

For me, it was important not only because of the prestige of the venue, but because Aura was frequented by international figures from the worlds of music, entertainment and communication.

Over the years, names associated with Aura included Rihanna, Drake, Ne-Yo, Usher, James Arthur and Tamara Ecclestone.

Seeing a project born in Southern Italy reach a place like Mayfair taught me something important: ideas, when supported by passion, hard work and determination, can travel much further than we imagine.

During those years Umberto Bruno also sponsored several sporting events. One of my favourite memories comes from a local football tournament held in my hometown.

I have never been a great football fan, but I have always loved difficult challenges.

I decided to support a team made up of local young people, boys with strong personalities, difficult backgrounds and very little support from those around them.

The tournament was highly competitive, with many strong teams taking part. Very few people believed we would make it very far.

Instead, we reached fourth place and received both the Breakthrough Team Award and the Best Goalkeeper Award.

I still remember that experience with affection. Not because of the sporting result, but because it reminded me of something I have always believed: never judge people solely by appearances or by the expectations that others place upon them.

In 2016 the company changed its name to MarketingSalento.com S.r.l. I had big ideas, but in a small local environment it was difficult to make them fly. They took off, but they never truly flew.

Those were difficult years for the Italian economy and for Made in Italy. Producing entirely in Italy was a choice I deeply believed in, but competing in an increasingly challenging market was far from easy.

Then came the darkness.

Depression became one of the toughest challenges of my life. I do not want to hide it. In the middle of many colourful and positive experiences there was also complete darkness, thoughts of giving up, terrible moments, psychologists, psychotherapists and hospital admissions.

For a long time life was not easy. In fact, it was extremely difficult.

Eventually I met an outstanding professional named Cosimo, who helped me understand important values in life and discover a deeper part of myself.

I always dreamed of building my own path. Being the son of capable or successful people is not always an advantage. For me, at certain moments, it also became a disadvantage.

I will never deny the beautiful moments I experienced or the extraordinary work carried out by my family. But I wanted to discover what my own abilities really were. I wanted to understand how far I could go on my own.

In 2020 an opportunity arrived: to move to England and work as a labourer, working as a hod carrier and carrying mortar and bricks on construction sites.

My first destination was Didcot, in Oxfordshire.

Many people, when they think of England, think only of London.

I discovered a different England: one made up of small towns, countryside, local communities, construction sites, pubs, parks and people from all over the world.

Over time I became deeply attached to this territory.

Half joking and half serious, I even started calling it “Salento England”, a place where two apparently distant worlds somehow managed to meet.

And that is where everything began to change positively in my life.

It sounds strange, but it is true.

I will never deny Italy. I will always love Salento, Puglia, Lecce, Italian food, especially my mother’s cooking, and the beautiful and complicated land where I was born.

I will always be Salentino, Pugliese and Southern Italian.

I will always carry the colours of Lecce inside me: yellow and red.

Even though I do not love football, I will always support my land, my region and my country.

But if I managed to overcome some of the deepest struggles of my existence on this complicated planet, I must thank England and everything it honestly offered me.

Here I have done everything: refuse collector, labourer, hod carrier, groundworker and many other demanding manual jobs.

I have cleaned toilets, collected rubbish and worked on major construction projects.

On every major construction project where I worked in England, I was always the only Italian.

For me, that was never a problem. It was an opportunity.

Even cleaning rubbish, carrying mortar, loading bricks and doing work that many people might consider humiliating turned out to be valuable opportunities.

Here I learned to observe the world through different eyes.

In England I did not learn only from construction sites.

Every day I observed how major digital companies and international brands communicated.

I studied organisations such as Amazon, Instagram, Facebook and many others that succeeded in building recognisable identities across the world.

I observed logos, graphics, language, branding, territories, platforms and communication strategies.

Many of the ideas I develop today through my projects were born from those years of observation.

Yes, I am probably a little crazy too.

I am, and always will be, my father’s son.

Mistakes? Countless.

Failures? Many.

But they became my university.

They became my master’s degree.

They became part of my education and my journey.

Today I would gladly live another five hundred years just to see what happens to this crazy world, full of beauty but also full of unnecessary conflicts and wars.

Today I am not chasing success as other people define it.

I am chasing a purpose.

MarketingSalento.com was born from all of this: work, territory, failures, rebirths, ideas, travel, mistakes, family, England, Salento, the web, tourism, communication and the desire to build something that lasts.

Only God Is My Boss was born from the same journey. Not as a provocative statement, but as a synthesis of freedom, responsibility, faith, setbacks, new beginnings and personal independence.

Only women will save the world, and I love them all.

Only love will bring peace.

Only respect and cooperation will lead to great achievements.

This is who I am: a man without filters, a simple man, a man who is not chasing success, but purpose.