Businessman turned his local spa water into a global export
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| San Pellegrino water has been in production since 1905 |
The business Mazzoni started, in the small spa town of San Pellegrino Terme in Lombardy in northern Italy, manufactured 1.5 million bottles of the reputedly beneficial water during its first year of production in 1905 and has now become a multimillion-euro operation.
The son of an English teacher, Mazzoni was born in Milan in 1862. He studied law at the university of Pavia, a course from which he graduated with full marks. He then went to work for a railway company dealing with aspects of commercial law.
Mazzoni founded the Società Anonima delle Terme di San Pellegrino in 1899 and took over the running of the Hotel Terme and Fonte Palazzolo company, and the Hotel Milano and Fonte Salaroli company, after buying them from the local families who owned them.
He built new spa facilities and employed the architect Romolo Squadrelli to design and build a new water bottling plant in San Pellegrino, completed in Stile Liberty - Liberty style - the Italian equivalent of Art Nouveau style, between 1902 and 1904.
Within a few years of opening the plant, the 60 people who Mazzoni employed there were producing between four and five million bottles of the spa water annually to go on sale.
Mazzoni also founded the Val Brembana electric railway and joint stock company in 1904, which built the Bergamo to San Giovanni Bianco railway line, and he founded the Milanese Joint Stock Company for the salami and cheese industry of Milan in 1909.
He became president of many companies in Val Brembana and Val Camonica and was also an advisor to banks in the Bergamo area.
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| Cesare Mazzoni began to bottle the water from San Pellegrino's springs in 1899 |
The municipality of San Pellegrino officially recognised Mazzoni as un ‘cittadino benemerito’, a ‘citizen of merit’, and in 1916 a street was named after him near the area where the thermal establishments were located.
The history of San Pellegrino water dates back to medieval times and by the early years of the 19th century, many noble people would travel to the town to ‘take the water’ because it had earned the reputation for being beneficial to people’s health.
After the company was founded in 1899 by Mazzoni, bottles of San Pellegrino water began to be shipped overseas. With the opening of the thermal facilities at the beginning of the 20th century, San Pellegrino started to thrive as a high-class holiday resort, which attracted aristocrats from all over Europe.
Also designed by Squadrelli, the Liberty-style Grand Hotel and Casino of San Pellegrino were opened in 1906 and they soon became popular haunts for international royalty and politicians. Two Queens of Italy and other members of the Italian royal family visited, along with famous people such as opera composer Pietro Mascagni, army General Luigi Cadorna and film director Federico Fellini.
As early as 1908, San Pellegrino water was being exported to Cairo, Calcutta, Shanghai, the United States, Brazil, Peru and Australia.
The company was also the first to produce aranciata, or orangeade, in the 1930s, and they went on to produce sparkling drinks in other fruit flavours.
In 2010, more than a billion bottles of San Pellegrino water and San Pellegrino fruit beverages were sold in a single year.
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| The Grand Hotel and Casino at San Pellegrino is an example of Liberty style opulence |
The spa town of San Pellegrino Terme is 24km (14 miles) north of the city of Bergamo and is a comune of Bergamo province, located in the Val Brembana. The name San Pellegrino has now become synonymous with its celebrated bottled aqua minerale, but for centuries it has been a place people visited, hoping for a cure for their illnesses. Leonardo da Vinci is reputedly one of the visitors who has sampled San Pellegrino’s ‘miraculous waters’, which are believed to be particularly effective against kidney stones and uric acid crystals. It is worth a visit to see the opulent Liberty-style architecture and to take a stroll along the banks of the River Brembo, imagining what San Pellegrino would have been like at the height of its popularity when it was frequented by royalty and celebrities. Viale Cesare Mazzoni is situated near the Brembo river and the thermal establishments.
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| Bergamo's Piazza Vecchia has been hailed as the most beautiful square in Italy |
Travel tip:
Bergamo is a fascinating, historic city in Lombardy with two distinct centres. The upper town, the Città Alta, is a beautiful walled city with buildings that date back to medieval times. At the heart of the Città Alta is Piazza Vecchia, which was remodelled during the Renaissance and has been hailed by architects and writers as the most beautiful square in Italy. It is surrounded by old palaces and has a 12th century bell tower that still strikes 100 times at 10pm each night to mark the ancient curfew, when the city’s gates would be closed for the night. You can walk through the archways under Palazzo della Ragione into Piazza Duomo where you will see the Duomo, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colleoni Chapel and the Battistero, all of them architectural gems. The elegant Città Bassa (lower town) grew up on the plain below and still has some buildings that date back to the 15th century. More imposing and elaborate architecture was added in the 19th and early 20th centuries and it is now a vibrant city with a wealth of shops, bars and restaurants. There are also palaces, churches, art galleries and museums, as well as a theatre, named after the Bergamo-born opera composer, Gaetano Donizetti.
Find accommodation in Bergamo with Expedia
More reading:
Ernesto Basile, the architect who was a pioneer of Stile Liberty
Gaspare Campari and the aperitif that bears his name
Luigi Lavazza, the Turin grocer who became a market leader in coffee
Also on this day:
1862: The birth of adventure novelist Emilio Salgari
1943: The birth of actor Lino Capolicchio
1969: The death of footballer Giuseppe Meazza
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