In Italy, wealth has a precise anagraphic colour: silver. According to the study ‘La pesante eredità: ricchezza e (im)mobilità sociale tra le generazioni in Italia’ (The heavy inheritance: wealth and social (im)mobility between the generations in Italy) published by the Future Proof Society with the think tank Tortuga, processing data from the Bank of Italy’s 2022 Household Budget Survey, it emerges that 75% of national wealth is held by individuals over 50: as much as 40% by pensioners (over 65), while less than 9% is in the hands of the younger generations. The share allocated to Generation Z and Millennials is progressively decreasing; a 40-year-old today owns on average 50% less wealth than a peer born in 1946. Over the next twenty years, according to the study, an intergenerational shift of around 6,460 billion euros is estimated.

Family businesses at the crossroads
This dynamic is strongly reflected in the Italian production fabric, characterised by a significant presence of family-run businesses, around 67 per cent. According to the AUB 2025 Observatory, these businesses generate more than EUR 1.2 trillion in turnover and employ some 3.47 million workers. In the next five years, it is estimated that at least one in five will face a generational transition.
A testament to the relevance of the family business for the national production fabric is also the latest Global 500 Family Business Index, an analysis conducted by EY in collaboration with St. Gallen University, which ranks the 500 largest family businesses globally on the basis of revenue every two years. The 2025 Index includes 22 Italian companies, accounting for 4.4% of the global total, which places Italy fourth in the world (after the United States, Germany and France) and third in Europe for the number of family businesses included in the analysis. These realities, however, are characterised by governance over 65.
According to Unioncamere and Infocamere, in the last ten years in Italy the presence of company captains over 70 years of age has increased by a quarter, while the presence of those under 30 has decreased – by more or less the same amount. The lack of turnover often results in strategic stagnation, asset rigidity and, in the most critical cases, in the closure of the business. Only 13% of family businesses survive to the third generation, according to the Family First Institute.

The risks of an unplanned transition
This is not just an Italian criticality. PwC’s latest Global NextGen Survey covering the Central and Eastern European region shows that only just over half (51%) of NextGen are aware of a succession plan in their family business. 15% have not been involved in its development. The transition from one generation to the next can be a time of great opportunity, but also of potential fragility. The main risks include: the absence of shared leadership, the lack of preparation of the new generation, especially in terms of financial and managerial culture. And again: difficulties in managing tax and asset issues, latent family conflicts that explode in the transition. The consultancy approach becomes decisive, strategic support to ensure the success of the new entrepreneurial phase.

Experience and listening 
Managing the generational transition of a business requires multidisciplinary skills. Credem Euromobiliare Private Banking, through its Corporate Finance Advisory team, for example, proposes an integrated approach that takes into account not only financial needs, but also family and strategic dynamics. Each company is a world unto itself and the generational handover must be tailor-made, with advanced tools, but also with listening and vision.
The approach of the team led by Simone Citterio starts with an in-depth analysis of the specific needs of each business and then outlines tailor-made growth paths, which take into account both the company’s performance and the prospects of the sector and the need to safely pass the helm of the company to the new generations. A concrete example of this is the case of Club del Sole, today the leading open-air tourism operator in Italy, with 27 facilities spread across the sea, lake and mountains and 3 in the process of being acquired. A story that started in the 1970s, when the Giondi family decided to invest in two open-air facilities.

In the years to come, with the entry of the second generation, the group decided to make a quantum leap. It is 2013 when the family starts with the Credem Euromobiliare Private Banking team to study various growth options. The first operation to open up to external investors takes place in 2015, with a 10 million capital increase: after a year of meetings, analysis and negotiations, the first deal with a specialised fund is closed. From that moment on, the growth model by external lines took shape, inspired by European best practices, accompanied by the arrival of the third generation on the company’s board and the inclusion of managers from outside the founding family. At that time, the group had seven facilities and a turnover of around 26 million.

The second operation materialised in December 2018, while the third and most important came in May 2024, with a 50 million capital increase. Today, after 3 extraordinary operations in 10 years and an exponential increase in the product perimeter and results, the Giondi family remains firmly at the helm of the company.

Through constant and customised work, Credem Euromobiliare Private Banking has assisted the Giondi family in defining a development strategy that has allowed the company to become the number one in the sector in Italy, the family to remain in full control of the company and the world of funds to enter a sector – that of open-air tourism – that in 2013 was not so well known to the private equity world.

The case of Club del Sole shows that the generational transition, if guided by strategic vision and modern governance, can become a powerful growth accelerator. From a family business to a national leader in open-air tourism, the company has transformed the challenge of succession into an opportunity for openness to capital, managerial innovation and competitive consolidation. A model that confirms how generational change can not only preserve assets, but also generate leadership, attract investors and position the company among the protagonists of a rapidly expanding sector.