Roots
Carlo was born in Carmiano, in the province of Lecce, on 11 December 1947, the son of Spiridione Coppola and Francesca Libetta.
He grew up in a deeply Catholic world. As a boy he was an altar server, and he studied at a boys’ school run by the Salesian Fathers, where he later also began teaching mathematics.
Florence, 1968
In the years around 1968 he studied architecture in Florence. He belonged to the Goliardia, the old student fellowship, and took to the free spirit of those years: his guitar always at hand and a hand-painted Lambretta.
He had an artist’s streak, and painted a number of pictures.
Physics and computers
From architecture he turned to physics, and took his degree in Lecce. He began his career at IBM, then founded his first company in Potenza, ILS – Informatica Lucana Sistemi. Later, in Lecce, he created IPES – Informatica Pugliese Sistemi.
The Italian magazine Capital photographed him with his wife Gabriella for a feature called “I signori di Lecce”, an IBM laptop in his hand.
The name
It was he who gave the family the name it carries today: to the surname Coppola he added Libetta, his mother’s surname.
Farewell
In January 2025 he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He died in Lecce on 1 March 2026.
He is remembered by his wife Gabriella and his sons, Marco and Diego.