RossoGallo was the name given to a company whose demise is a key plot point Remothered: Tormented Fathers.
History[]
From in-game information, it can be deduced that RossoGallo's name is a conjunction of two surnames, "Rosso" and "Gallo", indicating that two families were involved in the company's founding; Arianna's family, the Gallos, being one of them.
Since a newspaper article describes the company as "the pride of the Gallos" with Arianna being the sole owner, and no mention of the Rossos, it can be presumed that the Rossos either sold all their shares to the Gallos, or the Gallos bought them out completely.
The company was likely run by either or both of Arianna's parents before she inherited it some time later and continued operations of corporate affairs along with her husband, Richard Felton. It should be noted that Arianna had used her maiden name in business dealings, likely because of the prestige and social pedigree her family name carried.
Another family, the Ashmanns, had strong connections to the company. The Ashmanns were major shareholders and financial backers who managed the building RossoGallo was headquartered in and supervised the harvesters: the red nuns of the adjoining Cristo Morente convent.
RossoGallo's main purpose was the production of foodstuffs for consumers, and to that end, it ran vast plantations on which crops were cultivated and later harvested. Whilst it is never stated in the Early Access of the game the specific kinds of foodstuffs the company produced, official information concerning Richard Felton states that he was once involved in the winemaking business. Therefore, grapes and the wine made from them was most likely one of their chief products.
The company was apparently very successful, and the wealth it generated enabled Richard and Arianna to purchase a huge villa for their new home. Felton Villa was also used at one point as a location for product distribution.
Dangerous Activities[]
Behind the scenes, Richard personally funded business partner, Professor Albert Elias Wyman, with corporate monies to carry out clandestine pharmaceutical experiments for the development of a new drug, Phenoxyl 2.0. This new drug was intended to be a follow-up to the original Phenoxyl that Wyman had developed previously of 1957 with the oversight of Richard's father, but was recalled from the market a few years later due to its disastrous side effects. Richard had been addicted to Phenoxyl for years due to it being used to treat his mysterious illness, and when it was withdrawn from the market, he pushed for the production of the second prototype so as to have an easier, legal means of getting the drug for his treatment.
While it is unclear exactly as to the extent of Arianna's involvement in the project, documents found in-game indicate that at the very least she was complicit and more than aware of what was being done with corporate funds.
Phenoxyl 2.0, however, had even worse side effects than its predecessor: painful ulcers, vomiting, proliferation of parasites, abnormally high insulin levels, an allergy to Cortisone, cerebral cortex damages, hallucinations, amnesia, memory alterations and, in some cases, keratosis photosensitivity were all reported.
Unfortunately, the drug had managed to leak into the farmlands and contaminated many of RossoGallo's products via toxic pollen. This adversely affected consumers and there were many reported cases of severe parasitosis. Phenoxyl 2.0 had also seeped into the groundwater which was used for the irrigation of the plantations, as well as a common source for the Cristo Morente convent and the Ashmanns, whose palace was situated nearby.
Scandal & Demise[]
When the nuns and the Ashmann sons were struck by the horrible effects of the drug, the Ashmanns alerted the public about the contamination, and RossoGallo came under intense scrutiny, resulting in the farm being closed on October 2nd, 1971 by authorities.
Following the revelations, Richard, along with Arianna and Wyman, were indicted for criminal activity. Richard lied and publicly accused a shocked Wyman of appropriating and misusing corporate funds for pharmaceutical experiments, whilst Wyman responded that Richard personally funded him and oversaw the development of Phenoxyl 2.0. The Ashmanns also publicly blamed Wyman for using the company to spread a dangerous parasitosis (presumably via the same moths found in-game) in order to experiment with unapproved medicines. Both they and the Feltons received numerous threats from the professor who was furious at being made a scapegoat, having his reputation and life ruined, and for being expelled from the Order of Physicians.
As a result of the scandal, the Ashmanns severed their relationship with the Feltons and RossoGallo, and then claimed a substantial refund on their investment owing to the damages they suffered since their sons had been infected and used as unaware test subjects.
However, before any further investigation of RossoGallo could be done, the plantations, the Cristo Morente convent and a wing of the Ashmann palace were all destroyed by a massive fire due to someone pouring inflammable liquid into the irrigation system and the convent's piping. Eleven of the twelve nuns perished in the blaze, the sole survivor being an Ashmann daughter as witnessed by Arianna herself during the conflagration.
Aftermath[]
Due to the big public scandal caused by the Phenoxyl 2.0 contamination, followed by the substantial refund claimed by the Ashmanns, the devastating fire, and presumably the monetary compensation the company would have had to pay out to affected victims, RossoGallo never rebuilt or resumed operations in any way again.
Years later, when Rosemary Reed is investigating the disappearance of Celeste Felton she comes across two articles which discuss the RossoGallo scandal. It is implied that Celeste's disappearance and the fall of RossoGallo are connected in some way.
Trivia[]
- The name "RossoGallo" literally means "red rooster" in Italian.
- Arianna's maiden name "Gallo" (derived from the Latin word "gallus"), which forms part of "RossoGallo", literally translates to "rooster". Historically, the word was used to describe a person with some of the attributes of a rooster, such as a powerful voice or sexual prowess. This makes sense considering all pictures of Arianna in her youth show that she was a beautiful woman.
- The surname "Rosso", which forms part of "RossoGallo", (derived from the Latin words "rubius" and "rossius") literally translates to "red".
- RossoGallo shares some similarities to the Umbrella Corporation from the Resident Evil franchise in that they both made products for public consumption, but secretly carried out unethical research in the medical field.
- Since Celeste was the only child of the Feltons, it could be presumed that she was the heiress to RossoGallo prior to it's demise.