The History of Family

Villa Cerami in Catania, noble residence of the family– Today site of the Department of Law

The story of our family’s long history begins in the early 1800s, a period in which the Galatioto Rosso Family, Sicilian barons with ancient roots,  had a fleet of ships in the port of Catania, which carried Sicilian citrus fruit, fabrics from England and precious silks and purple dyes from the Middle East. The goods travelled through the Mediterranean, including Spain, Greece, Italy and North Africa and in Northern Europe between England, Holland, Germany and Russia.

In 1917, Baron Francesco Galatioto found himself in Moscow, Russia, at the very moment when the Russian Revolution took place. He daringly fought his way back to Sicily. After a very long journey, when he touched the ground he knelt down, overjoyed  and kissed it. Over the years the family grew a passion for textiles and clothing, and eventually stopped working in the field of naval transport around 1930s. They moved to Milan to devote themselves to the production of lingerie and opened a small manual weaving laboratory. The business stopped due to the outbreak of World War II and Carmelo Galatioto (son of Baron Francesco) went off to war.

The inner courtyard of Corso Como No. 10, today is the site of a major clothing store.

In 1946 after returning to Milan unharmed, he decided to take over the  lingerie business with the rest of his sizeable family. In 1947, the company was founded in Milan and in response to the great demand for lingerie, the company grew very quickly and supplied the most important department stores in Europe; by the mid-50s, it had more than 1,000 employees and hundreds of industrial machines.

Around 1960, Carmelo Galatioto, who was in charge of commerce, had many requests from customers for knitted garments. Thus, with his wife Mariuccia, he opened a small knitwear workshop in Milan in what was at that time a suburban area of the city: Corso Como No. 10. Nowadays it is the center of Milanese nightlife and fashion, and the site of a famous clothing store.

The global knitwear market began to grow, and customers increasingly demanded knitwear in the style of Luisa Spagnoli, a Perugia based brand.
Hence Carmelo and Mariuccia decided to leave the family business and start  production in the green heart of Italy:  Umbria – a land renowned for tradition and high quality knitwear.
The distance between Milan and Umbria proved to be quite considerable, so in 1965 they decided to move permanently to Perugia with their son Francesco and it was then that the Maglificio GALASSIA S.R.L. was founded.

Since its early years, the company has distinguished itself in the high quality of its knitwear and accessories for the growing international market. Their style and quality did not go unnoticed, which is how the Galassia company started important partnerships with high fashion brands, producing and distributing knitwear, even on exclusive license, for Trussardi, Gian Marco Venturi, Gianfranco Ferre and many more.

Over the years the company grew and in the 80’s the management passed to the second generation: Francesco and his wife, designer and product manager Laura Galatioto. Productions for major brands continued and during the 90’s important contracts were signed with Nazareno Gabrielli, Fendi, t.s Dupont, Dunhill.

Laura personally joined forces with Gianni Versace on license to create a vanguard knitwear style to be distributed worldwide.                                       In 2000, as a result of the experience gained over the years, the management decided to focus their business efforts on a property trademark with exclusive traits:  PASHMERE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     In 2015 the company, now in its third generation with Gabriele and Emanuele Galatioto, has celebrated its 50th year anniversary.