Rolando Canestrini, an entrepreneur from Brescia, died this morning at the Tawfiq Hospital in Malindi, after a short battle with Covid-19 and related complications.
As is often the case, unfortunately, for people of a certain age (Canestrini had just turned 81), the virus, even in Africa, has a negative impact on previous illnesses.
Canestrini, an industrialist from Desenzano with a passion for travel and show business, was the owner of the Lily Palm Resort, on one of the most beautiful beaches in Watamu, where he had also opened the Mapango restaurant in 2016. But his tourism-related business in Kenya began with the acquisition of the Aquarius resort, of which Lily Palm had been the seaside extension for years.
Through the agency Bontour and the collaboration of some members of his family, he brought thousands of tourists to Watamu on holiday, many of whom then bought houses and began to visit Kenya regularly.
In the early 2000s he also took over the management of Marafiki Villas in Mayungu, after the split between Aquarius and Lily Palm-Mapango (which remained in his hands).
Passionate about a certain type of 'eighties' management of the tourist village, Canestrini has always believed in the combination of holidays and entertainment, bringing famous television and film personalities to Watamu, and offering his facilities several times as a backdrop for fiction sets.
With sometimes questionable choices and a difficult character, but always stubbornly in the saddle of his creation, on the strength of his unconditional love for Watamu, where he had decided to move permanently since the advent of the pandemic.
Malindikenya.net offers its condolences to the family.