‘But just remember one thing: you must never add anything to honey!’ with these words in the 1950s, Giambattista Ambrosoli left his sons the complete management of the company he created, a company that has been an outstanding historic feature of Made in Italy for over 100 years and has also carved out a place for itself on the G7 table during the summit in Borgo Egnazia.
The Ambrosoli story begins when Giambattista Ambrosoli, born in Como in 1882 and a chemistry graduate from Winterthur (Zurich), after working for several years in Switzerland, returned to Ronago (CO) in 1906 to manage his paternal grandmother’s silkworm farm.
Entrepreneur by passion
The production of honey began for a very simple reason: Giambattista Ambrosoli was a passionate consumer of it. Already during the First World War – no longer able to go to Switzerland, where he used to buy it – on the suggestion of a friend, he began the activity of beekeeping, with the first hives for a small production for personal use. The official founding of G.B. Ambrosoli’s company dates back to 1923.
Battistino – as the founder was called – became passionate about studying bees to the point of becoming one of the pioneers of nomadic beekeeping, moving insects according to the blooms.
In the 1930s, production expanded, and the idea of amber floor wax was born. One of the workers was sent to Switzerland to study how to make candies. And it would be precisely honey candies that would become one of Ambrosoli’s most famous products, sponsors for years of the Giro d’Italia and stars of Carosello commercials.
The connection with the territory
All the hives were destroyed during the Second World War. Still, at the end of the conflict, activity resumed with the search for new beekeepers and, above all, with the modernisation of the factory, which abandoned many manual processes for greater efficiency and improved productivity.
The company has always been based in Ronago, providing work for generations of the small town’s inhabitants, and the Ambrosolis have never given in to the idea of relocating to nearby Switzerland. Alessandro Ambrosoli, 90, is the last of Battistino’s sons and president of the company.
Today, Ambrosoli has 70 employees and produces around 1.6 million kilos of honey and more than 400 million sweets.
A hundred years of sweetness
To mark the centenary of the foundation, a postage stamp was issued and a documentary film entitled ‘Una passione dirompente’ (A Disruptive Passion) was filmed under Silvio Soldini’s art direction. A book was also published, ‘Ambrosoli. Storia di una famiglia e di un’impresa’ (Mondadori), written by Alessandro Ambrosoli and Silvia Cadrega.
The Ambrosoli Foundation and Blessed Giuseppe
However, not all the Ambrosoli brothers chose to remain in the family business: Giuseppe Ambrosoli, a doctor and religious, lived in Uganda and founded a hospital and midwifery school in Kalongo. On 20 November 2022, he was beatified by Pope Francis. Today, the Ambrosoli Foundation continues to support the work started by Giuseppe, which is essential for the well-being of local communities.
Congratulations to those who bring Italian sweetness to the world!