A taste of Italy whets appetite for winter fun

By Tom Kirvan

A native of Milan, Giuseppe Cattani is marking his 30th year as an attorney in 2024, while his firm will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. Giuseppe, who has an older brother, is one of six partners with the business law firm that numbers 20 attorneys.

Giuseppe Cattani, the managing partner of FDL Studio legale e tributario in the culturally rich city of Milan in northern Italy, is a native son of the region that is renowned as the global capital of fashion and design.

Home to the national stock exchange, Milan also is a bastion of priceless works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s mural “The Last Supper,” which is housed in the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent.

In the winter months, Milan can teem with tourists bound for some of Europe’s most popular ski destinations in the nearby Italian and French Alps where Giuseppe and his wife, Marcella, have a vacation home at Mont-Blanc, part of a mountain range where the peaks range from 13,000 to 15,700 feet.

At age 56, Giuseppe has been a life-long skier and winter sports enthusiast, enjoying the rush of carving a path down a powder-laden slope as well as the solitude of snowshoeing through the woods where only the sound of deer, elk, and other high-elevation animals can be heard.

“Milan is conveniently located and is just a short drive to some of the finest ski resorts in the Alps; to the lake region of Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, and Lake of Garda; and to Portofino (on the Italian Riviera),” said Giuseppe. “Being so close to such areas makes Milan very special.”

Milan’s profile will take on added luster in February 2026 when it hosts the Winter Olympics with Cortina, a city located in the Italian Alps. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games will be staged in Milan along with the hockey and skating events, while the skiing, luge, bobsled, and curling competitions will take place in Cortina. The alpine city also hosted the Winter Games in 1956, while the Italian city of Torino was the host of the 2006 event.

“Cortina, of course, is one of the main ski attractions in Italy, while Courmayer and Chamonix in France are also nearby and very popular,” said Guiseppe. “There are many great places to ski within a short drive from Milan.”

Giuseppe – who is fluent in Italian, French, and English – earned his degree in international comparative law from Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. In 1993, he received his law degree from Universita degli Studi in Milan, beginning his career in business and commercial law a year later.

Before attending law school, Giuseppe spent a year of mandatory military or public service helping the homeless in Milan through a church institution, making and distributing meals in addition to assisting with clothing and health needs. It proved to be a profound experience, inspiring him to continue to volunteer on behalf of the homeless for years to come.

“I wanted to help make a difference in their lives, which was more in line with my sensibilities than serving in the military,” Giuseppe related.

Giuseppe and his wife, Marcella, have been married for 26 years and have two sons, Michele and Tommaso, ages 23 and 20, neither of whom has decided to follow their father in the legal profession, taking note of the “long hours” and the “stress” that can come with the job.

Since 1974, FDL Studio legale e tributario has been providing high quality legal services to a wide range of national and international companies, including small, mid-size, and large multi-national groups. The firm has been based for more than 20 years in the magnificent Palazzo Borromeo, a historically restored medieval residence in the heart of Milan. FDL is scheduled to host the 2024 Primerus EMEA Regional Meeting in Milan June 13-14.

While acknowledging the demands of his work responsibilities, which include representing a host of international clients in transactional and dispute resolution matters, Giuseppe knows where he can find a special form of refuge.

“On a ski slope or hiking through the woods,” he said, noting that they bring “joy” and “peace” to his busy world.