Giovanni Lodigiani, born in Turin, Italy, spent his teens playing football for Juventus FC, went to work in the press-office and public relations until the mid ‘80s, gained a law degree, moved into music business producing records in top London studios, then specialised in business administration in England at the School of Management-University of Bath, became an international media executive, did a teaching stint at Exeter University, then decided to become a Butler & Household Manager.

Giovanni Lodigiani is today a world-class professional Butler & Household Manager/ Estate Manager/ Director of Property/ General Manager of Properties, with high-profile international experience either in private service as well as in the hospitality industry. He is one of the most qualified and experienced as well as one of the most well-regarded private service industry professionals on the international market. Together with full-time employment assignments, he occasionally works on training and consulting projects for private households as well as for premium hotels, boutique hotels and resorts. He has worked in UK, Russia, USA, Italy and Persian Gulf where he managed the royal palaces of the Royal Court of Bahrain as Deputy General Manager of the Palaces Department.

— What an unusual career path! What inspired you?

— When I changed career I looked for something close to my personal interests: interior design, arts, housekeeping, house maintenance, clothing care, entertaining guests and, most of all, organising people and resources. The job of Household Managers is to organize people and resources, so who better for the job than a former business manager with formal English butler school?

— How has your education and diverse work experiences helped you as a Butler?

— Modern household organizations can be rather complex environments; they can be proper commercial enterprises whose scope is not to make profit but to spend resources for the good care and maintenance of the property. The more complex the organization the more complex the role. The manager is the expert bringing the knowledge on site, making employer’s life easier, so it is important that he is educated, qualified, competent and experienced.  A formal management background is extremely helpful and this is something employers should search for during the recruitment process. This is not a job for “practitioners”.

In 2017 has published the first part of an innovative household management textbook, “Introduction to Executive, Property, Estate & Household Management”, a breakthrough publication bringing a completely new approach to household management studies, with a strong business administration oriented perspective focusing on organizational and operations management studies. In 2021 has released the Complete Volume edition dealing with household management organizational design models and the main distinctive management responsibilities. The third edition of this textbook has been published in 2023.

— You have worked in UK, USA, Russia, Italy and Persian Gulf and must have experienced different environments, work habits and requirements, regulations and cultures.

— In Russia I had the first really important assignment setting up a large impressive brand new property in Moscow (Barvikha) with about 30 members of staff. In this project I had the opportunity to build the household organization from the very beginning. I had a great support from the family and the language was not an obstacle at all.  In Bahrain the Royal Court is incorporated into the government organization, so it was a job dealing with “power” in the real sense of word; it was a strongly administrative-oriented role dealing with all the other departmental offices of the Court, the biggest royal court in the world. A great experience in a really extraordinary country moving forward very fast. In Italy I had a most enjoyable assignment for a Russian owner transforming a private home into the most sought after resort of Lake Como: a great refurbishment project involving a large number of contractors, suppliers, members of staff, with a complex property management organization structure.

— A Butler’s role is surely a sensitive one. How you manage the fine line between getting the job done and remaining in the background?

— It is all about the “frame of mind”. Butler training is about creating the frame of mind more than everything  else. In real life, the Household Manager is in the background with regard to service operations but very much in the “front line” as far as management  duties are concerned. Opposite to the corporate world, household management is a job where there is no absence of decision-making; in this job managers take executive decisions every day and that is why management education and background – as well experience of life and human nature — is so important.