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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u00a9 Duferco<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By Matteo Somaini, LCTA President<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are people who build companies. And then there are those, far rarer individuals, who build ecosystems. Bruno Bolfo belonged to the latter category.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When people think of Lugano, they often picture banks, the lake, and the understated elegance of a city that seems to have made discretion a way of life. Yet for more than forty years, immense flows of steel, energy, commodities, and capital bound for every corner of the globe passed through these seemingly tranquil shores. Behind many of those routes stood the vision of a man who preferred action to rhetoric and results to the spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bruno Bolfo accomplished something that once seemed almost impossible: he transformed a relatively small city into one of the leading centers of international commodity trading. He did so not through grand proclamations, but through the oldest and most effective method in business: working, taking risks, and building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The roots of his entrepreneurial journey trace back to Brazil in 1979, but it was in Lugano that the project found its center of gravity. From here, Duferco began weaving a global network capable of connecting markets, industries, and continents. A multinational company born on the shores of Lake Lugano seemed almost paradoxical. In reality, it was a bold bet\u2014and Bolfo won it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His insight was recognizing, long before many others, that the value of a city depends not only on its size, but on the quality of the talent and expertise it can attract and develop. In this way, Lugano became an international platform where Swiss financial know-how met the dynamism of global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet Bolfo\u2019s true legacy is not found in Duferco\u2019s balance sheets. It is found in people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great companies leave behind buildings. The greatest leave behind schools. Duferco was a school. Over the years, it trained generations of professionals who learned how to understand markets, manage risk, organize global logistics, and negotiate in increasingly complex environments. Many of them later pursued their own entrepreneurial paths, founding new businesses and helping create what is now often referred to as Lugano\u2019s trading \u201cgalaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a phenomenon reminiscent of the old master craftsmen: the apprentice enters the workshop and one day opens one of his own. With one important difference. This workshop did not produce furniture or watches, but expertise capable of moving millions of tons of commodities and generating billions of euros in trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From this original nucleus emerged companies specializing in energy, natural gas, electricity, logistics, and related services. Some have become leaders in their respective sectors. All, in one way or another, bear the imprint of a business model founded on pragmatism, decisiveness, and adaptability. The impact on Ticino\u2019s economy has been profound: hundreds of highly qualified jobs, an ecosystem involving professionals, law firms, auditors, banks, and logistics operators. Above all, it has created an international reputation built over decades and strengthened day after day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, global trade is navigating a complex era marked by geopolitical tensions, energy transitions, and evolving regulations. In this context, the passing of Bruno Bolfo marks the end of an era. Not because what he built is disappearing, but because one of those rare individuals capable of leaving a lasting and recognizable mark on the destiny of a region is no longer with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lugano has lost its patriarch of commodity trading. It has lost an entrepreneur who always preferred to work away from the spotlight. Yet it retains something far more enduring than the presence of any single individual: a business culture, a network of expertise, and an international outlook that continue to generate value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, Bruno Bolfo\u2019s true legacy is neither a company nor an industry. It is the idea that even a city overlooking a lake can become a window to the world, provided someone has the vision to imagine it as such\u2014and then dedicate a lifetime to making that vision a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally published in<\/em> Corriere del Ticino<\/strong>, July 22, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a9 Duferco By Matteo Somaini, LCTA President There are people who build companies. And then there are those, far rarer individuals, who build ecosystems. Bruno Bolfo belonged to the latter category. When people think of Lugano, they often picture banks, the lake, and the understated elegance of a city that seems to have made discretion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 23:58:18","action":"category","newStatus":"draft","terms":[49],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14563,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562\/revisions\/14563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lcta.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}