Alberto Bolaffi, Knight of Labour and Honorary Chairman of Bolaffi Spa, one of the most influential figures in the world of collecting internationally, has died in Turin at the age of 89. Breaking the news was the company itself, founded in 1890 by Alberto's grandfather, recalling with emotion his fundamental role in transforming the company into a modern and dynamic structure, with about 150 employees. Born in 1936 and nicknamed the “Lord of the Stamp”, Alberto Bolaffi represented the third generation of the Turin dynasty. After studying economics and serving an apprenticeship with his father Giulio, a legendary figure in Italian philately, he had taken over the company in the early 1960s. Since then, he has been able to broaden the horizons of collecting, integrating innovative areas such as international auctions, mail order, art publishing, and even space collecting. In 1986 he founded the Collector Club, a pioneering direct sales system, while in 1990 he launched the Bolaffi auction house, now among the most prestigious in Europe. Two years later, he was awarded the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists, the world's highest honor for a philatelist. A passionate and curious collector, Alberto Bolaffi was interested in all forms of material culture: coins, historical documents, wines, ties, even the cosmograms of the Apollo 11 mission. His outlook was always multidisciplinary, capable of combining business and research, market and popularization. A publicist journalist and author of numerous articles and essays, he was also the editor of the historic magazine “Il Collezionista” and the creator, in 1962, of the Catalogo Bolaffi d'Arte Moderna, the first attempt in Italy to bring contemporary art closer to a wider public. In addition to his entrepreneurial commitment, he left a deep mark on Piedmont's civic memory: in 1998 he founded the Challenge Stellina Mountain Race, a high altitude race in memory of the partisan division led by his father, known as “Aldo Laghi”. His life, marked by the experience of war and the underground, was always intertwined with a deep human and social sensitivity. In 2012 he had passed the baton to his son Giulio Filippo, who today remembers him as a generous, shy man deeply marked by the values of resistance. From stamps to vintage technology, via gold, real estate and jewelry, Alberto Bolaffi's story is also the story of an Italy that was able to transform memory into enterprise and passion into culture.