Bernardo Caprotti last Friday denied reports that his Esselunga supermarket chain was up for sale. The only problem is that he was the very one who had sparked all the media speculation over potential buyers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco when he told an Italian newspaper he was preparing to sell the business.

He also candidly admitted that he lied because he did not want to give away the reasons for holding his first press conference in 50 years: the launch of a book in which he rails against his food retailing rivals in Italy's co-operative movement.