VOL. 52 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 20, 2015 P71
M
A R R Y I N G
M
E R C E D E S
G
iovanni Castiglioni
is the only son of
the late Claudio
Castiglioni, the man
whose love affair with
MV Agusta was such
that he acquired, sold
and repurchased the
historic Italian brand
no less than three
times in the space
of 20 years. In the
months leading up to
his father's sad pass-
ing in August 2011,
Giovanni took over re-
sponsibility for running
MV Agusta, assuming
the role of President
of the family-owned
company.
A graduate of the
London Business
School, the thirty-four
year old joined MV
Agusta in 2002 as
Director of Communi-
cation after working
in the U.S. for a year
with the company's
then-importer for
North America, Eraldo
Ferracci. Giovanni had
previously owned and
run his own fashion
business, but with his
father's illness, that
diversion from the
family's core business
was sidelined after the
opportunity to reac-
quire MV Agusta from
Harley-Davidson arose
in 2009.
Harley had pur-
chased MV in July
2008 for a reported
$109 million, including
$70 million in assumed
debt. After throwing
millions of dollars at
its new Italian trophy
marque—to clean up
the balance sheet and
to fund investment
in new models and
CASTIGLIONI TALKS
MERCEDES-BENZ
PARTNERSHIP AND THE
FUTURE OF MV
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEL EDGE, GOLD & GOOSE
AND MV AGUSTA
