Head of Rothschild in Russia pens fairy tales between flights

Giovanni Salvetti, head of Rothschild in Russia and CIS, poses for a picture with his fairy tale book during an interview in Moscow, Russia – REUTERS

MOSCOW, REUTERS: Giovanni Salvetti, the head of Rothschild in Russia and CIS, takes five flights a week in his job managing the bank’s operations from Kazakhstan to Ukraine. 

In-between time, he has written a book of fairy tales for his children. 

“I did not decide to create a book it was a request of my children. Every night I am with them they want me to tell a story. They don’t want me to read a story,” Salvetti, 47, said after receiving the first printed edition of his book. 

He has three children: Two boys aged 12 and 10 and a girl of eight. “Once they told me: We like very much your stories. Why don’t you write one?” The book, “Arturo and the Unicorn”, is available in Russian, English and Italian. 

It tells the story of a poor man from the Italian town of Bergamo working for a local nobleman. The book’s hero is blackmailed and jailed but he manages to escape thanks to his paintings.  “The message is that life sometimes can be unjust, but that art can help you even in the darkest moments of your life,” says Salvetti, whose bank advises companies and government bodies in ex-Soviet countries. 

Salvetti did the drawings for the book himself, and published it with his own funds. It can be bought online or in book stores in Russia and Ukraine for about 3 euros and proceeds from sales will go to a charity to help children in Russia and Ukraine who are suffering from cancer. 

Asked if anything about his business could be learned from the fairy tale book, Salvetti said none of the characters were based on people in real life. 

“I think I can write something more interesting not about children but about my... experiences in my business,” he said, joking that that might carry risks. 

“But then I’ll have to move to Argentina or Sri Lanka.”