The well-known eatery and restaurant Cine Cittá caught fire on the afternoon of January 31. Authorities reported six people were rescued from the building adjacent to Cine Città and three nearby establishments were affected.
According to information from the Caracas fire department, the blaze began around 4:00 PM, originating in the storage area of Cine Città. “This quickly and harshly feeds on the type of fuel, causing it to spread to a nearby residential complex,” stated the firefighters.
The financial muscle behind Cine Cittá is provided by Alfredo Marando Falciglia, a 59-year-old Italian-Venezuelan businessman who acquired shares in the restaurant on Margarita Island in 2006. The restaurant opened its doors to the public in November 2003, located in the Sambil mall in Pampatar. Marando has been accused by some Venezuelans of being allegedly connected to a prominent political leader of the Venezuelan regime.
In 2015, Cine Cittá opened a branch in Caracas featuring a restaurant inclusive of an ice cream shop, bakery, and pizzeria, along with a small grocery store that later evolved into Supermarket Cine Cittá Prive, owned by Alfredo Marando Falciglia.
Alfredo Marando Falciglia began his business career alongside his brother Attilio while living in Ocumare del Tuy, Miranda state. Sources indicate that his first major venture was managing a video rental store offering Betamax and DVD formats in that locality, according to El Pitazo.
He then moved on to importing and selling white goods by opening La Mía Casa Electrodomésticos in March 1998 with Attilio in Ocumare del Tuy, as recorded in the Commercial Registry No. 2 of Caracas. From this business, three branches were launched across the country, one located in Nueva Esparta. By 2009, Alfredo became the sole manager of this company.
Alfredo Marando Falciglia’s entrepreneurial side took off amid the peak of the so-called Bolivarian revolution and he now strives to maintain his footing amidst the relentless Venezuelan economic crisis. He is a man who doesn’t make much noise compared to his business: he doesn’t use social media extensively. There are few public details about his academic background. People close to him assert that after overcoming an accident, he acquired a bionic leg that allows him to move around normally, similar to the prosthetic used by Colombian model Daniela Álvarez.
Wealth gained through his ventures enabled Alfredo Marando Falciglia to establish and lead companies abroad, especially in the United States. His name appears in eight different companies, including some where he shares executive roles with his sons Alfredo Michele Marando and Giacomo Andrés Marando, as per the Open Corporates database.
In 2015, Alfredo Marando Falciglia began leading Real Plus Investment, LLC in Florida, which was created on April 2, 2015, and doesn’t have much information available online. However, years prior, he registered a business in the U.S. named La Mia Casa U.S.A Corporation, the name of his white goods business, which has been inactive since 2019. In 2012, he had also registered La Mia Casa Corporation in Panama, which is managed by his son Giacomo Marando.
Also part of the empire is another company registered in Florida that only operated for two years, presided over by Alfredo Marando Falciglia and Giacomo Marando. This was Compumania C.A. Corp., a name similar to the tech store that was located on Margarita Island, where Giacomo Marando acted as the owner. This company in Florida has been inactive since 2020, while the store on Margarita Island is currently closed.
Alfredo Marando Falciglia (left) and Jesús Ramón «El Negro» Veroes (right) were co-owners of Cine Città for three years
The last company the Marando family registered outside Venezuela was Cine Cittá Supply, S.A., which was registered in the public records of Panama on May 12, 2020, during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the Americas. In 2019, Supermarket Cine Città Prive, INC was registered in Florida, sharing the same name as the grocery store managed by Alfredo Marando Falciglia at Centro Polo in Caracas, although its commercial name is not registered in Venezuela.
Supermarket Cine Cittá Prive, INC is chaired by Attilio Marando, brother of Alfredo Marando, who currently resides in Doral, Miami-Dade County, Florida, where he manages an ice cream shop called Made in Italy. At this location (4291 NW 107th Avenue, Doral), five of the companies registered by the Marando family are located.
Alfredo Marando Falciglia has recreated a business similar to those found in free trade zones in Caracas. Through his grocery store, he offers products that only a small fraction of the Venezuelan population, primarily those managing remittances, can afford to buy. Meanwhile, the rest, who rely on a minimum wage equivalent to two dollars, find it impossible. The growth of his exclusive supermarket, still regarded as a kind of “lifeline” for some families, does not alter the pervasive image of poverty in the country nor the worsening effects of the economic crisis that continues to deepen.