Our Founder
Life, commitment and values of Valter Baldaccini
Valter Baldaccini, founder of UMBRAGROUP, was a man of faith, an enlightened entrepreneur, and one who always cared about his community.
Early life: family and education
Born in 1945 in Cannara, a small town in the province of Perugia, Valter attended Salesian schools before earning his degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Pisa.
He came from a deeply devout family of humble origins. As he grew up without a father, it was the women of the household who passed down to him the values that shaped every aspect of his personal and professional life.
To Valter, family was the most precious gift of all. He and his wife Mariangela had three children, Antonio, Leonardo, and Beatrice, whom they raised with love and Christian values.
A tangible legacy of love for his fellow man
Valter's deep concern for his fellow man was put into action for the first time in 1966, when he joined the volunteers who rushed to help the people affected by the flooding of the Arno river. There he encountered the Focolari movement, with whom he would launch various humanitarian projects in Africa. Their message of brotherhood and community would influence him profoundly as a man and as an entrepreneur.
- In 2006, Valter began setting up local and international projects to aid the impoverished. He personally supervised the various activities, bringing groups of employees with him, particularly to Kenya and Burkina Faso;
- In 2009 he and other partners founded the non-profit organization “La Gomena,” through which he would continue the work he had begun previously.
Valter's extraordinary sense of compassion would see him invited by the Bishop of the Diocese of Assisi to join the Board of Directors of the Istituto Serafico, an organization providing care to youths with serious disabilities.
Valter passed to eternal life on May 4, 2014. A large crowd of over three thousand people gave him his final farewell during his funeral, held at the Cannara stadium. One quote from his last speech to his employees, “together we have sown a great seed that will grow into a great plant,” would give rise to the foundation named after him a year later.
The Fondazione Valter Baldaccini works to keep his memory alive each day and continues to help those who are struggling the most through a variety of projects.
A tangible legacy of love for his fellow man
Valter's deep concern for his fellow man was put into action for the first time in 1966, when he joined the volunteers who rushed to help the people affected by the flooding of the Arno river. There he encountered the Focolari movement, with whom he would launch various humanitarian projects in Africa. Their message of brotherhood and community would influence him profoundly as a man and as an entrepreneur.
- In 2006, Valter began setting up local and international projects to aid the impoverished. He personally supervised the various activities, bringing groups of employees with him, particularly to Kenya and Burkina Faso;
- In 2009 he and other partners founded the non-profit organization “La Gomena,” through which he would continue the work he had begun previously.
Valter's extraordinary sense of compassion would see him invited by the Bishop of the Diocese of Assisi to join the Board of Directors of the Istituto Serafico, an organization providing care to youths with serious disabilities.
Valter passed to eternal life on May 4, 2014. A large crowd of over three thousand people gave him his final farewell during his funeral, held at the Cannara stadium. One quote from his last speech to his employees, “together we have sown a great seed that will grow into a great plant,” would give rise to the foundation named after him a year later.
The Fondazione Valter Baldaccini works to keep his memory alive each day and continues to help those who are struggling the most through a variety of projects.