The story
The company was founded in 1725 in Udine, a small city in northeastern Italy. Initially, the company specialized in clocks for towers. It began working with designer Gino Valle after World War II, and developed signs with four flaps, each with ten digits, to display the time. The company eventually designed displays with 40 flaps, with the help of Belgian inventor John Myer. The new displays could include numbers and letters, allowing for a much wider use.
The company's Cifra 5 clock was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1956. The same year, Solari sold its first moving sign to Liege railway station in Belgium. It subsequently sold thousands to airports and train stations. There is no known record of surviving Solari split-flap displays, though hundreds have been replaced with more modern displays across the world.
In December 2025, Solari SpA celebrated, after its relaunch in the 1990s, its 300th anniversary, as the company was founded in 1725 in Pesariis, in the Val Pesarina, one of the eight valleys of Carnia. To mark the anniversary, the Italian Postal service issued a commemorative stamp featuring Solari's Cifra 3 clock.
From Wikipedia’s article on Solari di Udine, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4