When Milan-based entrepreneurs Sergio and Massimo Bariani built their first senior living facility two decades ago, many policymakers were sceptical about its utility, given Italians’ deep attachment to their homes. Yet within a few months of opening, the 120-bed facility was completely full.
Today, the brothers’ company, Gruppo Gheron, operates 36 state-of-the-art nursing and care homes in northern Italy, employing more than 1,500 people and generating €152mn in revenue last year.
Another seven new facilities, with 1,000 new beds, are scheduled to open in the next three years, while the company has waiting lists of hundreds of people no longer able to manage living at home on their own and eager for a place.
“There is a huge demand in Italy for nursing home beds,” says Alessandro Bariani, the group’s chief financial officer and son of one of the founders, citing the growing number of elderly Italians who are “at least partially not self-sufficient”.
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