FOUNDER
“We intend to put our know-how at the disposal of iconic structures or those with great potential, to preserve the nature of Italian hospitality, which is made up of a warm and spontaneous welcome and a strong bond with the territory. We know what it means to take care of others: to make people happy in order to feel happier ourselves, to make people appreciate the little things in order to remind ourselves how important it is, to enrich the lives of others in order to feel ours richer too.”
Aldo Melpignano
Innovative hotelier and curious traveller, Aldo Melpignano is the Founder and Managing Director of Egnazia Ospitalità Italiana.
Born in Rome in 1977 to a Puglian family, Aldo Melpignano completed his early schooling at San Giuseppe De Merode, a Catholic institution in Rome, after which he moved to London in 1997 to attend Cass Business School, City University.
At the age of just 19, he made his first encounter with the world of hospitality, supporting his mother in turning Masseria San Domenico, already a family property, into the first ‘Leading Hotel of the World’ in Puglia.
A few years later, he decided to embark on his own training path. At 22, he started working in investment banking before he moved to the United States. There, at 25, he was among the youngest MBA students at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 2005.
After his MBA, Aldo relocated to New York and – having been brought up within the hospitality world – in 2005 he formally began his work in the industry at Morgans Hotel Group, the company created by the hotel guru Ian Schrager. Here, after an early role working in the CFO’s office overseeing the company’s initial public offering, he was responsible for corporate planning and investor relations and then became Business Development Director, in charge of the company’s international growth.
In 2007, Aldo followed the call of his Puglian roots and decided to return to Europe to devote himself to the family business that had developed in the meantime. Splitting his time and efforts between London and Puglia, he embarked on the most ambitious family venture: Borgo Egnazia, an innovative destination that has gradually been changing the face of travel and wellbeing in a previously undiscovered region. Borgo Egnazia opened in 2010, its creation inspired by the typical local villages of Puglia, with a focus on a unique concept of hospitality based on wellbeing and local authentic experiences.
Today, Aldo is also Vice President with responsibility for the hospitality area of Altagamma, the foundation that promotes high quality Italian industry.
In 2023, Aldo Melpignano launches the Egnazia group and heads towards new ambitious goals: to support the development of territories and people through an innovative vision of hospitality, international and local at the same time, contemporary but deeply rooted in traditions.