We are in the late 1930s, and Egidio Cressi has a solid job at a bank in Genoa. But his passion is something else, and every Sunday, it takes him underwater, spearfishing with his brother Nanni. Spearfishing is in its infancy, and the two brothers and a group of friends decide to make their own masks and spearguns at home. In the beginning, it was a completely homemade hobby activity. Still, when in 1946 the bank offered Egidio a career advancement that would have required a move away from the sea, he resigned to devote himself to his passion. Thus, in the same year, the company known as ‘Il Pescatore Subacqueo Cressi’ was founded and, within seven years, a small factory for semi-industrial production was established.
The dawn of scuba diving
It must be said that at the time, very little was known about underwater breathing and related issues, so research was indispensable to developing Cressi’s business. Knowledge of the sector came mainly from the military, and so, among Cressi’s first successes was the improvement of Aro. This self-contained, closed-circuit oxygen rebreather was designed to facilitate rescue operations in mines in the event of asphyxiating gases and was later used mainly for military purposes by the X Mas raiders.
Equipment testing is not without risk. In fact, Dario Gonzatti, a close friend of Egidio Cressi, dies during an outing. The Christ of the Abyss statue, in the waters of San Fruttuoso, will be dedicated to him.
Rondine and Pinocchio: the names of success
In the 1950s, two important innovations made Cressi successful: the Rondine fins and the Pinocchio mask. The fins’ innovative features include the foot pocket, which is incorporated and closed at the back, the toe opening, the blade at an angle with the foot pocket, and the side reinforcements.
To understand the effectiveness of these fins, one needs only think of the Rondine L long fins, which enabled the great Jacques Mayol to achieve the performance that led to his famous freediving records.
The other key innovation of these years (1953) was the Pinocchio mask, the first to feature a special nose slot, which enabled compensation. Pinocchio was the best-selling mask in the world. It was also produced with graduated lenses and is still in the catalogue today, thanks to its particularly innovative design.
New materials, new designs, one business
Over the years, Cressi continued to grow, improving the materials and design of its products while the scope of production remained the same: masks, fins, wetsuits, and rifles. When Egidio Cressi died in 1986, the company was firmly established and would continue to grow, with the move to a new, larger factory in Genoa under the leadership of his nephew, Antonio.
Over the years, Cressi has developed dozens of worldwide patents, among the most recent being Big Eyes, the first mask with slanted lenses made of a new high-grade silicone and an exceptionally ergonomic design.
The Cressi brand also continues to work with big names in sports. In October 1999, Umberto Pelizzari set the new world record for freediving, reaching a depth of 150 metres off the coast of Portofino in a time of 2’57’ in variable no-limit buoyancy and the new world record for constant buoyancy with a depth of 80 metres.
A still growing company
Today, Cressi-Sub Spa is based in Genoa and has maintained and consolidated its leadership in diving equipment (scuba-diving, swimming, spearfishing, snorkelling). The chairman is Antonio Cressi (the founder’s grandson). The company employs 240 people, 70 of whom are in Italy, and has branches in Europe and the United States. In the last fifteen years, its turnover has grown by 50%, and its state-of-the-art products are distributed in 90 countries.
Congratulations to those who bring Italy to the seas of the world!
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