As the son of fashion legend, the late Salvatore Ferragamo, Leonardo Ferragamo - who visited Mumbai with his 16-year-old daughter to attend the Mumbai International Boat Show recently - is openly proud of his legacy, but in a robust, earthy, Italian sort of way. Is he the second most famous Leonardo after da Vinci, I ask when face to face with him. "Perhaps, thank you - but there's also DiCaprio!" he quips. He is still jet-lagged the morning after his arrival and needs a strong cup of black coffee to get his bearings. Some brisk sips later, he articulates his impressions of India. "I'm impressed with Mumbai. I see a lot of dignity here. But there are many wonderful buildings that need to be refurbished," he rues.

Honed in the fine aesthetics of Italy and bred by parents who have been fashion pioneers, he regrets losing his father at seven. "I remember my father as a motivator, a great communicator and someone who had the ability to get us all involved in his activities. On Sunday, he would work at home with his leather swatches and tools and would not mind us playing around him." His mother's miniature shoe collection houses a piece of leather with stitches on it. "At the back, written in my father's handwriting, are the words: Leonardo, 1959. This means I was working with him at the age of five or six!" When he did well at school, Ferragamo's reward was a trip to their shoe factory with his father, where he could work with cobblers and wax the threads. "I also learnt how to straighten nails!"

Salvatore Ferragamo had, by then, set up one of the most reputed and coveted labels for high fashion ladies' shoes, which was patronised by Hollywood's leading ladies and featured in many movies. Long before Sarah Jessica Parker made such a big noise about her Manolo Blahniks in 'Sex and the City'!

When Salvatore died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 62, it left his family stunned and traumatised. His widow, Wanda, though shattered, was determined to, quite literally, step into his shoes. Recalls Ferragamo, "Everything in the business was centred around my father. Although my mother was an important presence in his life, she was essentially a housewife. But she was marvellous. With her personality and character she came in and was determined not to sell out despite so many lucrative offers." Ferragamo says she wanted to make his father's dream - to see his entire family involved in the business - come true. "Each one of six siblings has come in and added a new dimension to the business, taking it from a sole focus on ladies shoes to today encompassing men's shoes, accessories, scarves, ties, eyewear, watches, fragrances, ready-to-wear and handbags."