150 YEARS OF HISTORY: INDUSTRY, CULTURE, INNOVATION, AND PEOPLE BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
“Our industry is by its very nature progressive”. It was in 1880 that Giovanni Battista Pirelli said this about his recently founded company. In just in a few simple words, the sentence captures the meaning and the essence of the project that he had brought into being. “Progressive” in the sense of being committed to detecting and bringing about progress and giving it new impetus. Progress in industry, technology and production, but also in the economic and social spheres.
Also in Italy, the last thirty years of the nineteenth century were tinged with optimism. There was a sense of confidence. “Magnificent and progressive destinies” could be imagined, banishing the critical pessimism of Giacomo Leopardi’s La ginestra and turning it into something positive.
The century that was drawing to a close seemed to be anything but “superb and foolish”. The clouds of conflict were drifting away after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1. Italy, with the breach of Porta Pia in September 1870, finally had Rome as its capital. Industry was advancing impetuously across Europe, and across Italy too, especially in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, but also in Palermo under the Florio dynasty, making up for lost time. Money circulated and banks were being opened. There was great excitement about the colonial adventures in Africa. Factories began operations, and railways were built and newspapers founded, with the Corriere della Sera in Milan in 1876, La Stampa in Turin in 1867 (initially as the Gazzetta Piemontese), and Il Messaggero in Rome in 1878. Making – and making known. A company. And its story.
The modern age had burst upon the country. New approaches were tried out in literature and painting, in music and science, in fashion and lifestyles, all of which became more cheerful, casual, and free. These economic and social transformations were assisted by the audacious wishes of a bourgeoisie that was demanding change. The frenzy of the Belle Époque had come and the dawn of the twentieth century was on its way. “Progressive”, the adjective used by the young industrialist Pirelli, well reflected the zeitgeist.
And it immediately defined a trend that was to accompany the long life of the company that bears his name: in harmony with the contemporary world, with an aptitude for innovation.
A long life: 150 years, and counting. A life to be celebrated – with a series of events that begin on Friday 28th, the date when the deed of foundation of Pirelli was signed. The first event, at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, will bring together historical reconstructions, current events and ideas for the future (with Ferruccio de Bortoli, Stefano Domenicali, Giampiero Massolo, Paolo Mieli, Renzo Piano, Alberto Pirelli, Ferruccio Resta, Anna Maria Testa and Marco Tronchetti Provera on stage and with live streams, presented by Ilaria D’Amico). This will be followed by a whole range of institutional, cultural and economic initiatives, also in countries around the world where Pirelli has a strong industrial and commercial presence (two of the initiatives, promoted by the Italian Mint and the State Printing Office respectively, will be the issue of three commemorative coins and a special postage stamp, in the series dedicated to areas of “excellence in the economic system”).
The fundamental aim of these events is to show how a unique story has been written, linking industry, technology, culture, communication and sport. And how, in the name of innovation, there is still a long way to go.
It all began, as we have seen, on 28 January 1872, in the office of the notary public Stefano Allocchio, in Milan. The limited partnership of GB Pirelli & C. came into being. The entrepreneur, Giovanni Battista Pirelli, has recently graduated from the Politecnico University of Milan and was just back from a long educational tour of what were then the most industrialised countries in Europe, where he examined a process that still did not exist in Italy: that of rubber production.
And that was it: the seed that would become an enterprise: an innovative idea that would turn into belts, valves, pipes, coated and then waterproofed cables, bathing caps, toys… And, from the beginning of the twentieth century, tyres. All made of rubber. It started with a small factory in Via Ponte Seveso, with just a few workers and state-of-the-art machines. And then it grew. In Italy and, very soon, around the world.
Innovation came on two different levels: in the products and in the decision to go for the most selective and demanding international markets: cables to carry energy and communication signals, tyres for the most challenging sports competitions (starting with the victory in the Peking-Paris race in 1907) and for the most sophisticated daily uses.
These guidelines held sway throughout the twentieth century, together with a great emphasis on the quality and efficiency of the production plants scattered across the world, from Italy to Germany, to Great Britain and Romania, to Brazil and Argentina, United States and Mexico, Russia and China, Turkey and Indonesia (to mention only those countries where Pirelli still has industrial operations today).
The present situation is one of innovative digital factories and a great focus on environmental and social sustainability, renewable energy, and safety. As well as on an underlying idea, which is that of the “beautiful factory” – a factory that is well designed, bright, transparent, and safe, where the quality of the workplaces and the quality of the products go hand in hand. One good example of this is the Settimo Torinese plant, with the “Spina” designed by Renzo Piano to connect the two production facilities, containing offices, services and research laboratories, set a sort of park with four hundred cherry trees. This model has also been adopted for other factories around the world. The quality of its industrial architecture is another hallmark of Pirelli’s long experience, as can be seen in the Pirelli Tower designed by Gio Ponti, a symbol of the economic boom of the 1960s, and in the redevelopment of the Bicocca district to a design by Vittorio Gregotti, with the Pirelli Headquarters built around the cooling tower of the old factory. These designs and constructions have become major landmarks in today’s metropolitan areas.
It is indeed true that a company “thrives, over time, if it has values that inspire the people who lead it and that involve all those who work in it. Pride in a job well done, for example. A great thirst for innovation. The awareness that one is a key player not just in terms of economic growth, but more generally in social, civil and cultural development. These are powerful values, elements of an identity that is constantly evolving, and yet that maintains deep roots in its past. Always with an eye open to change and to the challenges of the contemporary world,” says Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli.
The intensity of these challenges is clear to see in the company’s historical and current ties with the world of racing. From rallying to Formula 1, racing always offers extraordinary opportunities for testing and developing products. Race tracks and test tracks constitute a unique open-air laboratory, a test bench for products under the most extreme conditions. And the results can be seen in the products made for the market. The circle of interactions and feedback between track and road make Pirelli increasingly competitive and also help chart out its direction for the future.
In other words, innovation has always been a comprehensive policy, and it still is, now that we are delving deep into new dimensions of manufacturing and living. Electric cars and smart-city mobility. Digital factories. Robots in data-driven factories. High-tech simulators. Nanotechnologies. Cybertyres. And Artificial Intelligence applied to research, production, and consumption. These are all chapters in a story that is being lived and written right now. A story that needs economic culture and business culture to make a firm commitment to analyse and make proposals for new economic and social balances.
The markets, welfare, and democracy itself are all under pressure. Science and knowledge need to take on an unprecedented level of responsibility.
There is a slogan that epitomises Pirelli communication: “Power is nothing without control”. It was used in a 1994 advertising campaign with Carl Lewis, the extraordinary world sprinting champion, photographed in a pair of red stiletto heels by Annie Leibovitz. Innovation and wit. Over the years, the slogan has gone far beyond that brilliant advertising concept. It has broadened its meaning and now speaks of the connection between power and control and thus also of balance, and of responsibility. A corporate culture policy. But also an indication of culture and of a general sense of civic duty. In other words, a true classic. Filled with a powerful sense of contemporary values.
“Our industry is by its very nature progressive”. It was in 1880 that Giovanni Battista Pirelli said this about his recently founded company. In just in a few simple words, the sentence captures the meaning and the essence of the project that he had brought into being. “Progressive” in the sense of being committed to detecting and bringing about progress and giving it new impetus. Progress in industry, technology and production, but also in the economic and social spheres.
Also in Italy, the last thirty years of the nineteenth century were tinged with optimism. There was a sense of confidence. “Magnificent and progressive destinies” could be imagined, banishing the critical pessimism of Giacomo Leopardi’s La ginestra and turning it into something positive.
The century that was drawing to a close seemed to be anything but “superb and foolish”. The clouds of conflict were drifting away after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1. Italy, with the breach of Porta Pia in September 1870, finally had Rome as its capital. Industry was advancing impetuously across Europe, and across Italy too, especially in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, but also in Palermo under the Florio dynasty, making up for lost time. Money circulated and banks were being opened. There was great excitement about the colonial adventures in Africa. Factories began operations, and railways were built and newspapers founded, with the Corriere della Sera in Milan in 1876, La Stampa in Turin in 1867 (initially as the Gazzetta Piemontese), and Il Messaggero in Rome in 1878. Making – and making known. A company. And its story.
The modern age had burst upon the country. New approaches were tried out in literature and painting, in music and science, in fashion and lifestyles, all of which became more cheerful, casual, and free. These economic and social transformations were assisted by the audacious wishes of a bourgeoisie that was demanding change. The frenzy of the Belle Époque had come and the dawn of the twentieth century was on its way. “Progressive”, the adjective used by the young industrialist Pirelli, well reflected the zeitgeist.
And it immediately defined a trend that was to accompany the long life of the company that bears his name: in harmony with the contemporary world, with an aptitude for innovation.
A long life: 150 years, and counting. A life to be celebrated – with a series of events that begin on Friday 28th, the date when the deed of foundation of Pirelli was signed. The first event, at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, will bring together historical reconstructions, current events and ideas for the future (with Ferruccio de Bortoli, Stefano Domenicali, Giampiero Massolo, Paolo Mieli, Renzo Piano, Alberto Pirelli, Ferruccio Resta, Anna Maria Testa and Marco Tronchetti Provera on stage and with live streams, presented by Ilaria D’Amico). This will be followed by a whole range of institutional, cultural and economic initiatives, also in countries around the world where Pirelli has a strong industrial and commercial presence (two of the initiatives, promoted by the Italian Mint and the State Printing Office respectively, will be the issue of three commemorative coins and a special postage stamp, in the series dedicated to areas of “excellence in the economic system”).
The fundamental aim of these events is to show how a unique story has been written, linking industry, technology, culture, communication and sport. And how, in the name of innovation, there is still a long way to go.
It all began, as we have seen, on 28 January 1872, in the office of the notary public Stefano Allocchio, in Milan. The limited partnership of GB Pirelli & C. came into being. The entrepreneur, Giovanni Battista Pirelli, has recently graduated from the Politecnico University of Milan and was just back from a long educational tour of what were then the most industrialised countries in Europe, where he examined a process that still did not exist in Italy: that of rubber production.
And that was it: the seed that would become an enterprise: an innovative idea that would turn into belts, valves, pipes, coated and then waterproofed cables, bathing caps, toys… And, from the beginning of the twentieth century, tyres. All made of rubber. It started with a small factory in Via Ponte Seveso, with just a few workers and state-of-the-art machines. And then it grew. In Italy and, very soon, around the world.
Innovation came on two different levels: in the products and in the decision to go for the most selective and demanding international markets: cables to carry energy and communication signals, tyres for the most challenging sports competitions (starting with the victory in the Peking-Paris race in 1907) and for the most sophisticated daily uses.
These guidelines held sway throughout the twentieth century, together with a great emphasis on the quality and efficiency of the production plants scattered across the world, from Italy to Germany, to Great Britain and Romania, to Brazil and Argentina, United States and Mexico, Russia and China, Turkey and Indonesia (to mention only those countries where Pirelli still has industrial operations today).
The present situation is one of innovative digital factories and a great focus on environmental and social sustainability, renewable energy, and safety. As well as on an underlying idea, which is that of the “beautiful factory” – a factory that is well designed, bright, transparent, and safe, where the quality of the workplaces and the quality of the products go hand in hand. One good example of this is the Settimo Torinese plant, with the “Spina” designed by Renzo Piano to connect the two production facilities, containing offices, services and research laboratories, set a sort of park with four hundred cherry trees. This model has also been adopted for other factories around the world. The quality of its industrial architecture is another hallmark of Pirelli’s long experience, as can be seen in the Pirelli Tower designed by Gio Ponti, a symbol of the economic boom of the 1960s, and in the redevelopment of the Bicocca district to a design by Vittorio Gregotti, with the Pirelli Headquarters built around the cooling tower of the old factory. These designs and constructions have become major landmarks in today’s metropolitan areas.
It is indeed true that a company “thrives, over time, if it has values that inspire the people who lead it and that involve all those who work in it. Pride in a job well done, for example. A great thirst for innovation. The awareness that one is a key player not just in terms of economic growth, but more generally in social, civil and cultural development. These are powerful values, elements of an identity that is constantly evolving, and yet that maintains deep roots in its past. Always with an eye open to change and to the challenges of the contemporary world,” says Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli.
The intensity of these challenges is clear to see in the company’s historical and current ties with the world of racing. From rallying to Formula 1, racing always offers extraordinary opportunities for testing and developing products. Race tracks and test tracks constitute a unique open-air laboratory, a test bench for products under the most extreme conditions. And the results can be seen in the products made for the market. The circle of interactions and feedback between track and road make Pirelli increasingly competitive and also help chart out its direction for the future.
In other words, innovation has always been a comprehensive policy, and it still is, now that we are delving deep into new dimensions of manufacturing and living. Electric cars and smart-city mobility. Digital factories. Robots in data-driven factories. High-tech simulators. Nanotechnologies. Cybertyres. And Artificial Intelligence applied to research, production, and consumption. These are all chapters in a story that is being lived and written right now. A story that needs economic culture and business culture to make a firm commitment to analyse and make proposals for new economic and social balances.
The markets, welfare, and democracy itself are all under pressure. Science and knowledge need to take on an unprecedented level of responsibility.
There is a slogan that epitomises Pirelli communication: “Power is nothing without control”. It was used in a 1994 advertising campaign with Carl Lewis, the extraordinary world sprinting champion, photographed in a pair of red stiletto heels by Annie Leibovitz. Innovation and wit. Over the years, the slogan has gone far beyond that brilliant advertising concept. It has broadened its meaning and now speaks of the connection between power and control and thus also of balance, and of responsibility. A corporate culture policy. But also an indication of culture and of a general sense of civic duty. In other words, a true classic. Filled with a powerful sense of contemporary values.