Press
Castellesi is an Italian-American heritage platform helping people discover and carry their Italian roots — through apparel and ancestry research.
About Castellesi
Castellesi is an Italian-American heritage platform inspired by the towns, traditions, and family stories that connect generations. Founded by New York entrepreneur and brand marketing leader Marc Aitelli, Castellesi began as a clothing line rooted in real, specific Italian places — Avellino, Roma, Milano, Sicilia, Napoli, Salerno — honoring where families actually came from. It has since grown into a broader platform that, through both its apparel and its roots research, helps Italian-Americans discover where they come from and carry that heritage forward.
About the Founder
Marc Aitelli is a New York-based entrepreneur and brand marketing leader whose career spans running some of the finest retail locations in the world. With roots throughout southern Italy — Avellino, Salerno, and Napoli — Marc founded Castellesi after years spent searching for his own family's origins, creating the resource he wished he'd had so that other Italian-Americans could find and carry their roots. Castellesi is an Italian-American heritage platform inspired by the towns, traditions, and family stories that connect generations.
One-line bio: Marc Aitelli is a retail and brand marketing leader and the founder of Castellesi, an Italian-American heritage platform helping people discover and carry their roots.
Story Angles
- It started with one sentence. A father's single question, asked the last time they saw each other, led to two birth certificates for the same man, a 1906 court case in Naples, and a century-old family mystery traced through civil records and private letters.
- The document behind the certificate. The Italian birth certificate most families order is a summary. The original handwritten record holds witnesses, trades, addresses and later amendments — details that can change a family's entire story.
- From record to doorway. Castellesi research leads to real places: the comune, the street, and sometimes the actual building where an ancestor lived.
- Ellis Island, one ship at a time. Castellesi maintains a growing database of Italian passenger manifests, following the people of one town or one voyage from departure to arrival.
- Heritage you can wear. An apparel line built on real Italian towns and regions, not caricature.
Brand Assets
Press Contact
Marc Aitelli, Founder
marc@castellesi.com
New York, NY
castellesi.com