leonardo del vecchio (born 22 may 1935) is an italian billionaire businessman, the founder and chairman of luxottica, the world's largest producer and retailer of glasses and lenses, with 77,734 employees and over 8,000 stores. as of january 2020, del vecchio was estimated by "forbes" to have a net worth of $25.8 billion, making him the richest man in italy, and the 50th richest in the world.