Andrea Sassetti (born 1960 in

Fermo Fermo (ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest hum ...

) is an Italian shoe designer, owner of the

Italian fashion Italy is one of the leading countries in fashion design, alongside France, the United States and the United Kingdom. Fashion has always been an important part of the country's cultural life and society, and Italians are well known for their atte ...

company

Andrea Moda Andrea Moda is an Italian fashion company, owned by shoe designer Andrea Sassetti. It was responsible for management of the Formula One constructor of same name. Clothing companies of Italy {{fashion-company-stub ...

, a brand of high-end women's shoes. He was also briefly the owner of a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor racing team,

Andrea Moda Formula Andrea Moda Formula was a Formula One team that competed during the 1992 season. Its founder was Italian shoe designer Andrea Sassetti and the name came from Andrea Moda, Sassetti's company. The team participated in nine World Championship ...

, in 1992. The origin of Sassetti's fortune remain blurred; some sources attribute it to his father, Silvano Sassetti, a wealthy shoe manufacturer. Others suggest that he won a huge sum playing poker in the 1980s or hint at links with the mafia and illegal trade. According to a telephone interview published on the internet, Sassetti was born into a family of poor peasants who grew rich by working and earning money through gambling. When preparing for the 1992 Formula One championship, the headquarters of Andrea Moda Formula was installed in the former workshops of the Coloni team,

Passignano sul Trasimeno Passignano sul Trasimeno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region of Umbria, located about 20 km northwest of Perugia. Passignano was home to a historic Italian airplane factory, the SAI Ambrosini, now ...

, a small town in central Italy. The new team, which had forty employees, continued to use the materials from the old team and, according to several observers, Sassetti had very little, if any, additional funding invested in improving the infrastructure, which could have denoted a lack of seriousness of the new racing structure. In January 1992 in order to complete his racing staff, Sassetti set out to recruit, among others, a mechanic and truck driver from among the workers at his shoe factory. During 1992 a suspected case of arson destroyed Sassetti's discothèque on the east coast of Italy, and as he fled from the flames, a gunman shot at him, but missed. He now runs restaurants and nightclubs and is involved in the construction business. Still interested in the sport, he has the two original

Andrea Moda S921 The Andrea Moda S921 was a Formula One car designed by Simtek and used by the Andrea Moda Formula team in the 1992 Formula One season. It was driven by the experienced Brazilian Roberto Moreno and Englishman Perry McCarthy. The S921 used the Jud ...

cars at his home.

References

Formula One team owners Formula One team principals Living people 1960 births People from Fermo Italian motorsport people {{F1-bio-stub