Prior to joining Alvarium, he set up Albacore in 2015, and before that he was a Partner and Managing Director at Starfin SA, a multi-family office in Lugano founded in 1982 by a prominent Italian entrepreneurial family. Before joining Starfin, he worked in the international tax department of Ernst & Young Milan, and in a boutique law firm in Luxembourg focussed solely on trust and tax planning for two families with a net wealth exceeding €10bn. Francesco has an undergraduate degree in economics (specialising in tax law) from the University of Pavia, as well as one master’s degree in Italian and international tax law and another in capital markets and financial instruments, both from Bocconi University. He also attended several courses at IBFD Amsterdam. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the International Tax Planning Association (ITPA).