The founder and his Italy

I was born in Catania, in the shadow of Mount Etna, and grew up in a land where beauty is not bought: it is inherited, safeguarded, handed down. In Sicily I learned early that the most beautiful places always have a story, and that the story is rarely written in a listing.

I am an engineer, and proud of it: engineering taught me to look at a place as a whole, in its structure, its history, the value it can express. But what has always guided me is art and culture: the Baroque churches of Sicily, the palazzi of Rome, the artisans' workshops, the rooms of a museum before anyone else arrives.

My work has taken me among historic residences and hotels, from Venice to Taormina, alongside cultural institutions and internationally renowned artists. For some of them I searched for the spaces where their works could live. I saw at close range how much of Italy's most precious heritage remains hidden behind doors that open only through trust.

I also saw the opposite: people who had come from afar with a precise dream, and found only catalogues and closed doors. That is when I understood that true luxury, in Italy, is first of all access.

And then there is what you live once inside: a cloister at sunset, a dinner among frescoes, a chapel opened only for those who know how to listen to it. These are unique experiences, unrepeatable and found in no catalogue. That is precisely why they are a luxury too, perhaps the most precious one. Luxury is not owning something beautiful: it is living beauty.

My years in luxury real estate taught me that an important transaction is not closed with a signature, but built on trust. Behind every palazzo, every villa, every hotel I have handled there was a person, with their own timing, their silences, their questions. That is why the greatest value I can offer is not a property, but a relationship: listening before proposing, advising with candour, being there even after the deed is signed.

That is why I founded The Aegis Core Group and, within it, Private Access to Italy: a single point of contact able to open the right doors, whether for a residence, an investment or an experience meant to last forever.

Today I live in Rome, but my life is on the move: I travel to Italy's most exclusive places for my clients, whether they wish to buy a residence or live a unique experience. I keep doing what I have always loved: opening doors. To every client I make the same promise: your dream will be treated as if it were my own, and your name will remain yours.

Fabio Fazio, Engineer