My story

My story

Gaetano Lanza, born in 1975, moved to Bologna at the age of eighteen to study Physics. At twenty-two, he launched his first business, Il Marsalino, beginning a journey that would span the restaurant industry, hospitality, events and training.

Over the years, he created Gessetto, Agenzia Traccia and Metodo RISTOO®; he also became a partner in Intelligenza Manageriale®, where he continues to work today as a lecturer.

Since 2006, he has explored communication, personal development and human behaviour in depth, first as a student and later as a trainer. Study and hands-on experience have helped shape his personal approach to business, built around people, company culture, method and results.

Since 2023, he has brought this vision into the world of wine through Rewine® and the development of Bottega Botlé®, which opened in Bologna in 2024 and became the operational model for the “Experiential Wine Boutiques”.

Today, he is CEO of Rewine Italia and Botlé Franchising and the author of Urban Wine Tourism – The Bridge Between Wineries and Cities, the book in which he defines Urban Wine Tourism as an emerging market and gives structure to a vision already brought to life through his entrepreneurial projects.

From intuition to method

“For me, being an entrepreneur means turning an idea into a place where people feel good.“

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Vision

Over the years, the way I approach business has changed, but the starting point has remained the same: people.

At first, it was mainly an intuition developed through hospitality. Over time, I felt the need to better understand why some experiences work and others do not, why some organisations grow while others stall, and how the way we think and act influences our decisions and the results we achieve.

Studying communication, personal development, human behaviour and the principles of neuroscience helped me understand these mechanisms more clearly and turn many intuitions into a method.

Today, I see a business as a system in which people, company culture, organisation, numbers and the ability to innovate must work together. Technology is a powerful tool that should enhance human relationships, not replace them; a product gains new value through the experience built around it; and innovation, to be truly meaningful, must translate into practical value and measurable results.

It is this evolution, from intuition to method, that continues to guide every project I undertake.

1998 – Il Marsalino: the first business venture

At the age of twenty-two, Gaetano opened Il Marsalino in the centre of Bologna, his first entrepreneurial venture. The osteria soon became a meeting place where food, music, culture and human connection came together, anticipating an approach to hospitality that would continue to shape his future projects.

2005 – Traccia: events, culture and connection

Agenzia Traccia was founded to design and produce events, performances and cultural initiatives. This experience broadened Gaetano’s expertise in communication and in developing projects capable of generating participation, engagement and meaningful connections between people and brands

2009 – From communication to the study of human behaviour

Gaetano began an advanced three-year programme in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), exploring communication, perception and human behaviour in greater depth. These studies added new tools to his entrepreneurial experience, helping him better understand people and design services around their needs. During this period, he also created the course “Table Service, Like You’ve Never Thought of It Before.” 

2011 – The Gessetto Brand Is Born

With Gessetto Wine Bar, later followed by Gessetto Ristorante, a new hospitality project began to take shape. The venues also became places to experiment directly with organisation, service, staff training and new ways of designing the customer experience.

2015 – From experience to teaching

Years of management, observation and training came together in the Metodo RISTOO®, created to make restaurant businesses more productive and better organised. At its core is a clear belief: business growth begins with personal development, company culture and the awareness of those who lead it.

2022 – Intelligenza Manageriale and the Business Labs

Gaetano joined Intelligenza Manageriale® as a partner, a project founded by Francesco Conti, contributing to both teaching and the development of innovative Business Labs. Personal growth, strategy and financial awareness are brought together to help entrepreneurs turn vision and objectives into concrete action plans. He continues to work as a lecturer today.

2023 – Rewine® Is Born

Gaetano created Rewine®, a wine infotainment technology designed to bring people closer to wine and make it easier to discover a world that is often perceived as complex. A system that introduces a new way of interacting and learning, guiding guests in seven languages and turning wine tasting into a more accessible, engaging and informed experience.

2024 – Bottega Botlé® Opens

The first Bottega Botlé® opens in the centre of Bologna as the pilot store for the “Experiential Wine Boutique” concept. Wine tasting, Interactive Learning, technology, Blind Tasting and Virtual Reality come together in a single format, placing the experience at the heart of the concept and turning wine into an opportunity for discovery, learning and human connection.

2025 – Rewine® at Vinitaly

Its presence at Vinitaly 2025 brought Rewine® to the attention of wineries, industry professionals and national media. The response from the market confirmed the value of a technology born from everyday experience and now increasingly integrated into tasting and hospitality experiences across Italian wineries.

2025 – Botlé Franchising is Born

Building on the experience of the Bologna store, Botlé Franchising Srl was created to make the already validated Botlé® Experiential Wine Boutique model replicable. This marked the beginning of the network’s development, together with entrepreneurs who share the same vision, business culture and values. 

2026 – Urban Wine Tourism: The Vision Takes Shape

In his book Urban Wine Tourism – The Bridge Between Wineries and Cities, Gaetano formalises a vision that had already guided the creation of Botlé® and Rewine®: creating new urban spaces where people can experience wine, learn about it and deepen their relationship with it. The book defines Urban Wine Tourism as an emerging market within contemporary wine tourism and supports its potential through data, real-world experience and tangible results. Published on 4 September 2026, it is available through major online retailers.

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Botlé Franchising Srl

Botlé Franchising Srl develops the Botlé® Experiential Wine Boutique network in Italy and internationally, a format that places the customer experience at the heart of the business model.

The Group has created original immersive journeys and interactive experiences, combining technology, wine tasting, virtual reality and human connection. These elements form the core of the format and turn every Bottega into a true Urban Wine Experience.
Alongside this model is an innovative marketing approach designed to bring wine closer to people in urban settings and create a direct connection with wineries and wine regions.

This same vision is expressed more broadly through the concept of Urban Wine Tourism, developed and formalised by CEO Gaetano Lanza in his book Urban Wine Tourism – The Bridge Between Wineries and Cities. Botlé Franchising supports every new opening with design, training, technology and operational assistance.

Open a Bottega
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Bottega Botlé®

 Bottega Botlé® was created in the centre of Bologna as the pilot store for the Experiential Wine Boutique franchise format: a new kind of venue where wine is not simply sold, but discovered, tasted and understood.

Rewine® technology, guided and blindfolded tastings, food pairings and virtual reality tours come together in a system of interactive and immersive experiences that brings people closer to wine, producers and wine regions.

In the Bottega Botlé® business model, the experience is at the heart of the offering; the product remains essential and gains new value through knowledge and human connection. In this way, the format creates a tangible bridge between wineries, wine regions and people living in cities.

Discover Bottega Botlé Bologna
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Rewine Italia Srl®

Rewine® is at the heart of interactive wine learning experiences and serves as a tool for both customer knowledge and relationship building. It interacts with guests in seven languages, guides them through the discovery of products and, with the appropriate consent, collects information about their tastes and preferences.

In this way, it helps wineries, wine shops, wine bars, restaurants and hospitality businesses better understand their audience, personalise the guest experience and maintain the relationship over time.

Used both in urban settings and at wineries, Rewine® enhances hospitality without replacing the role of the operator. It brings together learning, customer insight and relationship building in a single system, making wine more accessible and easier to understand while providing businesses with a practical tool to improve the quality of the experience.

Discover Rewine
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Metodo RISTOO®

Metodo RISTOO® is the first training framework developed by Gaetano Lanza to define strategies and tools designed to make a restaurant business more productive, organised and sustainable.

It is based on a belief shaped through hands-on experience: business growth begins with the personal growth of the entrepreneur and the people who work alongside them. From this vision came the “Happy Restaurateurs” model, built around awareness, motivation and shared responsibility.

In Metodo RISTOO®, company culture comes before procedures, because no organisation can truly work without people who are aligned, engaged and properly prepared. Over the years, it has been developed into an online course and used in the training programmes led by Gaetano Lanza. Metodo RISTOO® will soon also be published as a book, reflecting the practical nature of its approach and the results it has demonstrated over time.

Discover RISTOO
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Intelligenza Manageriale®

Intelligenza Manageriale® is the training project created by Francesco Conti, in which Gaetano Lanza was a partner and where he continues to work today as a lecturer.

In his courses, Gaetano places personal growth at the centre, exploring how an entrepreneur’s inner dialogue influences decisions, behaviours and business results. Genuine emotions often emerge in the classroom, from moments of reflection to smiles: signs of a deep engagement with oneself and with the way one leads a business.

Alongside the search for the “business self”, he brings the pragmatism of numbers. In the Business Labs, also through the use of technological tools, entrepreneurs build complete action plans: from the “why” to the concept, through to the definition and practical implementation of strategies.

A method that is also applied to the design and management of the companies he leads.

Discover Intelligenza Manageriale

Hospitality

“A hospitality business is, first and foremost, a business built around people, relationships and experience.”

From the opening of Il Marsalino in 1998 to the various projects developed under the Gessetto brand, hospitality became Gaetano Lanza’s first major entrepreneurial laboratory.

These were places where he could experiment not only with different restaurant concepts, but also with new ways of welcoming guests, communicating, organising work and building customer relationships.

Food, music, culture and events often came together under the same roof, creating distinctive venues capable of becoming recognised reference points within the city.

It was through these experiences that a conviction began to take shape—one that would also guide his future projects: a quality product is essential, but it is the experience built around that product that ultimately determines its perceived value.

Explore Gaetano's hospitality

Events, Entertainment and Communication

“An event works when it can transform a space into a shared experience.”

With Agenzia Traccia, founded in 2005, Gaetano expanded his entrepreneurial journey into the worlds of events, entertainment and communication.

Concerts, artistic productions, cultural initiatives and public events became a new field in which to learn how to capture attention, create engagement and build relationships with very different audiences.

An experience that strengthened skills that remain central to his work today: designing an experience, understanding its audience, creating a narrative and turning an idea into something people can live and remember.

Discover our events