Santo Domenico Versace is an Italian industrialist and politician who serves as the president and co-CEO of Gianni Versace SpA, a luxury fashion company based in Milan and founded by his brother, the renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace. Santo Domenico Versace is, in fact, the company’s business brain, supervising key departments such as communications, sales, distribution, production, and finance. After Gianni’s murder in 1997, Santo assumed a greater responsibility within the organization. He is an elected member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic from the Calabria constituency and a member of the Alliance for Italy political party. Previously, he was a member of The People of Freedom party. In January 2018, the Italian actor Giovanni Cirfiera portrayed Santo in the anthology series ‘American Crime Story’ He is an advocate for and promoter of “Made in Italy” products. He also endorses the need for Italy to preserve its textile and fashion traditions.
Santo Versace’s Career
After graduating from college in 1968, Santo Domenico Versace joined Credito Italiano in Reggio Calabria as a banker. Later, he joined a secondary school as an economics and geography instructor. After completing his military service in 1972, he established his own accounting firm in Reggio Calabria and Milan.
He migrated to Milan in 1976 and became CEO of his brother’s company, Gianni Versace SpA when it was founded in 1977. He is in charge of several departments, including sales, distribution, production, and finances, and his emphasis on communication, organization, productivity, and quality contributed to the expansion of the brand.
In 1998, Santo was named President of the Italian Fashion Chamber, a position he held for one year. He became a shareholder of Viola Reggio Calabria Basketball in the same year. After Gianni’s passing, Santo acquired thirty percent of the corporation. His sister Donatella owns 20% of the company, and her daughter Allegra Beck, who inherited 50% when she turned 18, is now the leading heir.
Santo’s Personal Life
Santo Domenico Versace was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on December 16, 1944, to Antonio and Francesca Versace, a dressmaker, and owner of a boutique. He grew up alongside his younger siblings Gianni and Donatella. Tina, his older sister, passed away at the age of 12 due to a tetanus infection. Santo began working with his father after school when he was six years old and did so until he attended college.
He received a degree in economics from the University of Messina in 1968. In 1981, he married Christiana Cavalli. Both Francesca Christiana and Antonio Tina Santo are their offspring. In 2004, following 23 years of marriage, the couple divorced. In 2014, Santo remarried the attorney Francesca de Stefano, and they have a daughter named Ramona Francesca.
Santo Versace was shocked by the murder of his sibling Gianni in 1997. Gianni was 50 years old at the time. On the steps of his Miami Beach mansion, serial murderer Andrew Cunanan shot and killed him. Santo is the Chairman of Operation Smile Italy Onlus, an international organization that helps children with facial deformities.
Estimated Net Worth
Italian industrialist and politician Santo Versace have a net worth of $400 million. In December 1944, Santo Versace was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy. He was a member of the People’s Freedom Party prior to 2009. He was a member of the Alliance for Italy from 2009 to 2014, and then the Act to Stop the Decline from 2014 to 2015.