The story
The Lazzaroni family, led by Carlo Lazzaroni, moved from Valtellina to Saronno at the beginning of the 18th century, starting the artisanal production of Amaretti di Saronno. The business was continued by Carlo's sons Paolo and Davide. Paolo moved to Monza in the mid-19th century, starting the production of mostarda and liqueurs. Davide continued to produce amaretti, in Saronno in front of the cathedral, at that time served by horse transport. With the advent of the rail transport, Luigi Lazzaroni (son of Davide) joined the company and in 1888 the partners founded D. Lazzaroni & C., a new legal entity and a new manufacturing facility.
In the following years, the company enjoyed great success, making 350 different types of biscuits and exporting its products world-wide; this was symbolized by the brand logo, which included steam boat. It was in this period that biscuits such as Oswego, Nutritivo, Croccale and Germovita made their debut.
In 1984, the American multinational Campbell's acquired the firm in order to pursue an ambitious internationalization strategy. In 1991, the Italian firm Citterio, a producer of ham, salami and fresh pasta, acquired the company.
The nineties and the beginning of the 2000s saw ups and downs of the company, from financial difficulties to the relocation of production, which took place in 2004, to the Isola del Gran Sasso plant.
In 2008, the company was acquired by the Ragosta Group with the goal of rejuvenating the Lazzaroni brand after a strong restructuring process.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lazzaroni, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4