Vitaliano Borromeo Arese: who was the prince who revitalised the Borromeo Estates?

Le Terre Borromeo bids farewell to one of the people who has done the most to promote the historical, artistic and natural heritage of the noble family whose history is intertwined with Lake Maggiore: Vitaliano Borromeo Arese, chairman of Kaleon S.p.A, the company that manages the family’s portfolio of properties across Piedmont and Lombardy. The prince died on Sunday 18 October at the age of 66. His funeral will take place in a strictly private ceremony on Tuesday 20 at 11.00 am, at the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan.

Vitaliano Borromeo Arese was born in Milan in 1960 and studied business administration at Bocconi University. After graduating, he moved to the United States, where he began his career in the steel industry. Borromeo Arese then returned to Italia: first as managing director of the ‘So.Ge.Par’ group, which specialises in the production of stainless steel, and later as chairman of ‘Flos Spa’, a leading company in the lighting and design sector. Meanwhile, he invested in the restoration of historic buildings in Milan. Since 2011, the entrepreneur has devoted himself full-time to the revitalisation of the family’s properties: Isola Bella, Isola Madre, the Rocca di Angera, Pallavicino Park, Mottarone Park, the castles of Cannero and – most recently – the Visconti castle in Vogogna.

In 2015, his father Gilberto died and Vitaliano Borromeo Arese inherited the noble titles, including those of Prince of Angera and Count of Aragon. In 2025, Sag S.r.l., a company founded by the Borromeo family in the 1980s to manage and promote their assets linked to Lake Maggiore, changed its name to Kaleon S.p.A. and was listed on the stock exchanges in Milan and Paris. The Borromeo Islands circuit attracts more than one million visitors a year – according to 2023 figures published by Kaleon – and generates revenue of 23.2 million euros – the figure for last year. Alongside the modernisation and development of the family’s assets, Vitaliano Borromeo Arese is also committed to philanthropic and educational causes: for eleven years he has been patron of the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia – Italia’s oldest merit-based university – and of the San Carlo Borromeo nursery school in Lacchiarella. In 2021, he joined the board of directors of the Friends of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan and that of AIRC for cancer research. He and his wife have two children, Gilberto and Lodovico.

The origins of the Borromeo family date back to the late 13th century, and its roots lie in the Tuscan merchant class. Having left central Italia after about a century, the Borromeos settled in Milan and Padua. Here they made their fortune as merchants and bankers and, thanks to Vitaliano I Borromeo, ducal treasurer and Count of Arona, they entered the aristocracy of the Duchy of Milan. Thus began centuries of significant influence over the Lombard capital and the areas around Lake Maggiore, where the family’s fiefdoms formed the so-called ‘Borromeo State’ – which was dismantled by Napoleon at the end of the 18th century.

Among the most famous members of the family are Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, who was canonised by the Church, and Cardinal Federico Borromeo, founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and a character in Alessandro Manzoni’s *The Betrothed*. Since the early 20th century, the head of the family has held the title of Prince of Angera.