By Simone Bandini
Of Marco and Roberto we will tell you the human rather than the professional story. In fact, we believe that the world of finance – and by constituency that of savings and insurance, cannot do without that human factor capable of triggering mutual trust and building that relationship of esteem and trust necessary for the perfect success of any relationship, personal and business together. We meet them in the centre of Florence – and with them we take a walk from Piazza della Signoria to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, among the civil and religious splendours of the Renaissance city.
Marco Del Medico and Roberto De Salvo are longtime friends who have elected their affinities in entrepreneurship and business, more specifically, in insurance.
“Do you know why in Florence they say ‘playing the short arm’?” begins Marco.
So, we move from Piazza della Signoria, where we met, to nearby Via dei Cerchi where we discover an ancient unit of measurement, the Florentine Braccio, set like a metal blade between ancient stones. It was the official measure by which ‘cloths’ were especially measured, so that no one could be cheated, since right nearby was the customs house.
When merchants brought their apprentices with them, it was to avert the risk that they would measure the cloths the fabrics with their young and ‘short’ arms, an operation at the expense of the seller.
There are many expressions we have borrowed from Florentine history-even if we do not realize it-whose origin and popular genesis we now overlook.
Marco is a runner who makes no secret of the productive benefits of his training routine: “I usually train five times a week. I started running in 2005, thanks to a challenge with a notary friend with whom we later ran the New York City Marathon together. This high resilience attitude of mine allows me to face ordinary and extraordinary events with serenity and to react tenaciously to adversity.”
Not the least of which is having an elevated, so to speak ‘free’ lifestyle: “I enjoy eating and drinking with great quality, being in company celebrating friendship. My wife is an aspiring sommelier, so I am always under scrutiny (laughs).”
“My career started you could say by accident, taking my wife’s Cv to an insurance company. They were supposed to hire her and ended up getting me!”, the year was 1983.
“Then over the years I moved on to Vittoria Assicurazioni since here I found, it was said, a human dimension, less formal and not merely commercial.”
Marco and Roberto met in 1991 as they were both attending meetings as advisors to trade associations. The former is currently president of the ‘Right to University Study’ organization.
Today the two are perfectly complementary at work: Roberto is systematic and ‘rational’ while Marco a creative ‘humanist’.
Roberto recognizes himself, precisely, in the definition of ‘numerical’. A great billiards player since his military conscription days, he is enraptured by the geometries and strokes of genius on the green table. This discipline of the game shapes his character, also influencing his professional life: “I’ve always been competitive!”
A military father, he proudly remembers the ceremony of being sworn in as an AUC cadet, with his grandfather’s sabre.
He entered the world of insurance soon after his years in the barracks, with a disruptive desire to fulfil himself and make himself financially independent.
“I can say I worked my way up, no quirks, starting with making phone appointments and beating the street to make contracts,” he says with a hint of satisfaction.
He worked in Prato in the 1980s, then became a ‘sub-agent,’ finally an agent in Scandicci in 1993.
His entry into Vittoria Assicurazioni is dated 2011. Thanks to his experience, today he is also a party consultant for other fellow insurers: “I feel like an entrepreneur in my own right – but I’m certainly a good salesman!”
An inveterate mushroom hunter in all seasons, he loves the woods and the serenity they instil in his soul.
Both agree in their general assessment of the group to which they belong: “We recognize ourselves in the operating philosophy of Vittoria Assicurazioni, where agent and principal confront each other beyond the mere coldness of numbers, with humanity and empathy. Perhaps this is because the company is still a ‘family property’ that is its largest shareholder.”
What the two set out to do is to make ‘insurance culture’ with a variety of dissemination activities – given and considering how Italy’s overall spending – on pension and personal services – turns out to be the lowest in Europe.
Info: Intermedia Inservice, Via del Sansovino 196/198/200, Florence / Tel. 055 707402 / ag_301.01@agentivittoria.it