In 1905 Gualino began a limited partnership to trade in lumber with Gurgo Salice's sons Pier Giuseppe and Ermanno.
 
Tancredi Gurgo Salice supplied most of the capital.

The partnership imported precious woods from North America, and made huge profits over the next two years.

He became involved as a shareholder in a small bank, the Banca agricola di Casale.

In 1906 he entered the rapidly growing cement industry.
He and Gurgo Salice were founders of the Unione italiana cementi (Italian Cement Union).

The company expanded, and in 1912 became the Sindacato nazionale calce e cementi (National Union of Lime and Cement).

Gualino always shared management with the family, and ran the enterprise on a fairly conservative basis.

His fortune came from his dealings in wood.

In 1907 Gualino married Gurgo Salice's daughter Cesarina, then aged seventeen, at the Addolorata church in Casale Monferrato.

They would have two children, Renato and Listvinia (Lilli).

In 1908 Gualino formed the new limited company Riccardo Gualino p. legnami e cementi (Riccardo Gualino Wood and Cement).

He made it into a private limited company with capital supplied by Harry Piaggio.

It had a capital of five million liras.
His partners included Gurgo Salice, some directors of the Banca agricola, L. Ottina of Pisa, who was also engaged in forestry, and Erminio and Gaudenzio Sella of the respected Banca Sella of Biella.

The new company at once began a series of large acquisitions in Eastern Europe.
In 1908 it obtained a 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) estate in Volyn in the west of Ukraine and concessions on 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) of forests in the eastern Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

The company obtained additional concession in Romania the next year, and began making large investments in sawmills, roads and other infrastructure.

In 1910 Gualino bought a controlling interest from Baron Armin von Popper in the Forst Union, an indebted company that had various forest properties in the Habsburg Empire and in Romania and had a key role in the Austrian forest products export cartel.
Gualino hoped to use this position to obtain a discount on the cartel's exorbitant prices, but had little success.

That year Gualino and his wife launched construction of a castle with almost 150 rooms in Cereseto, a small village near Casale Monferrato.

The Castello di Cereseto, in Neo-Quattrocento Piemont-Lombardy style, was completed in 1913.

Gualino partnered with the Piaggio family to obtain a small fleet of sailing ships to transport the lumber via the Black Sea rather than by road.

He also bought the Cantiere lombardo (Lombard Shipyard), which became the Società nazionale legnami e materiali da costruzione (National Timber and Building Materials Company).

He began to build a large warehouse on the outskirts of Milan.
The business suffered from frequent closures of the sea route through the Dardanelles due to political turmoil.

The business empire was heavily indebted, and a bank run in 1912 caused it to collapse.

Gualino had to suspend payments in 1913 and assign the company's assets for disposal by a creditor committee that included the Società Bancaria Italiana, the Banca Commerciale Italiana and several large Austrian and German banks.
In 1905 Gualino began a limited partnership to trade in lumber with Gurgo Salice's sons Pier Giuseppe and Ermanno.  
Tancredi Gurgo Salice supplied most of the capital.
The partnership imported precious woods from North America, and made huge profits over the next two years.
He became involved as a shareholder in a small bank, the Banca agricola di Casale.
In 1906 he entered the rapidly growing cement industry. He and Gurgo Salice were founders of the Unione italiana cementi (Italian Cement Union).
The company expanded, and in 1912 became the Sindacato nazionale calce e cementi (National Union of Lime and Cement).
Gualino always shared management with the family, and ran the enterprise on a fairly conservative basis.
His fortune came from his dealings in wood.
In 1907 Gualino married Gurgo Salice's daughter Cesarina, then aged seventeen, at the Addolorata church in Casale Monferrato.
They would have two children, Renato and Listvinia (Lilli).
In 1908 Gualino formed the new limited company Riccardo Gualino p. legnami e cementi (Riccardo Gualino Wood and Cement).
He made it into a private limited company with capital supplied by Harry Piaggio.
It had a capital of five million liras. His partners included Gurgo Salice, some directors of the Banca agricola, L. Ottina of Pisa, who was also engaged in forestry, and Erminio and Gaudenzio Sella of the respected Banca Sella of Biella.
The new company at once began a series of large acquisitions in Eastern Europe. In 1908 it obtained a 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) estate in Volyn in the west of Ukraine and concessions on 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) of forests in the eastern Carpathian Mountains of Romania.
The company obtained additional concession in Romania the next year, and began making large investments in sawmills, roads and other infrastructure.
In 1910 Gualino bought a controlling interest from Baron Armin von Popper in the Forst Union, an indebted company that had various forest properties in the Habsburg Empire and in Romania and had a key role in the Austrian forest products export cartel. Gualino hoped to use this position to obtain a discount on the cartel's exorbitant prices, but had little success.
That year Gualino and his wife launched construction of a castle with almost 150 rooms in Cereseto, a small village near Casale Monferrato.
The Castello di Cereseto, in Neo-Quattrocento Piemont-Lombardy style, was completed in 1913.
Gualino partnered with the Piaggio family to obtain a small fleet of sailing ships to transport the lumber via the Black Sea rather than by road.
He also bought the Cantiere lombardo (Lombard Shipyard), which became the Società nazionale legnami e materiali da costruzione (National Timber and Building Materials Company).
He began to build a large warehouse on the outskirts of Milan. The business suffered from frequent closures of the sea route through the Dardanelles due to political turmoil.
The business empire was heavily indebted, and a bank run in 1912 caused it to collapse. 
Gualino had to suspend payments in 1913 and assign the company's assets for disposal by a creditor committee that included the Società Bancaria Italiana, the Banca Commerciale Italiana and several large Austrian and German banks.
Riccardo Gualino