Visconti, 20 years of business in Florence Search

In 1988, in a villa called “Il Chiuso” in Via dell’Osservatorio, Florence - still the company headquarters - a new fountain pen brand was born. Recalling the noble Italian family of yesteryear, the name was a brainwave of the founders, Dante Del Vecchio and Luigi Poli, who chose it to capture the spirit of their 100 percent Italian company.

And, as Del Vecchio is proud to point out, Visconti is not only 100 percent Italian, it’s also 100 percent Florentine. This is an added value for a company with 34 employees that produces all of its products exclusively in Florence.
And Del Vecchio has very clear ideas about all this: “Our original gamble was to expand exclusively in the pen market.” And they’ve done it without ever changing tack or incursions into extension lines. Judging by the growth of Visconti, the gamble has paid off.

Sales were up 25 percent in 2007 with turnover for the last financial year coming in at 6.5 million euros. The average number of pieces produced per annum over the last four years is around 70 thousand units, 75 percent of which sell outside Italy.
With nothing priced under 150 euros, the brand’s positioning is clear. And the range is large and diversified, made up of intriguing collections such as Van Gogh, Opera, Art Collection, Metropolis and the new entry, Divina in black Lucite.

Visconti also produces landmark limited editions, including Divina Proporzione, in celluloid, silver and gold, Carro and Ruota (from I Tarocchi collection), and Romanica, just to name a few.
“Our products,” says Del Vecchio “are an expression of a culture and knowhow that are deeply rooted in Florence, of an artisan sensibility that characterizes everything we make and ensures that our pens are never run of the mill - as the DNA of anyone born in the cradle of the Renaissance demands.”

And Visconti awards all its staff for this sensibility, with part of the profits going as bonuses to workers who put their heart into their work and contribute to making the Visconti name great.
Of course, if you want to be part of the “writing renaissance,” as the Visconti slogan goes, there’s no room for errors with banal, or even worse, soulless, products. And the firm’s marketing strategies are alive and well, with the new sales manager currently working on strengthening the Italian sales network and a project to lift the target price, with the Van Gogh collection currently the entry level product. Visconti is also establishing partnerships with a number of stores, identified by the Gold Point Visconti logo.

Signs of distinction
The current Visconti selection ranges from the entry level Van Gogh to the top of the range Divina Proporzione. In between is a rich selection of landmark pens than have brought the company success over the last 20 years and helped write the history of Italian writing instruments. Their success hasn’t only come from their quality and attractive designs, but also from a number of intriguing technical developments. A good example is the patented bayonet cap system (Hook Safe Lock).
Another is the Push & Pull Touchdown filling system, with the filling button that disappears onto the barrel and then reemerges with a click.

This filling system is a feature of the pentagonal Divina Proporzione celluloid fountain pen, which Penna reviewed in issue 74 (May 2006). With its flowing lines from barrel to cap, and vaguely art deco feel stemming from the combination of warm briar colored celluloid with threads of silver and gold, this is a pen with understated elegance.

Visconti’s history is full of patents, the latest being for the retractable nib mechanism on the Metropolis, which it combines with a piston-fill mechanism, making the pen unique (Penna 79, March 2007). Looking at the evolution of Visconti clips over the years gives an idea of the formal experimentation that the firm dedicates even to the small details.
The original clip with its curved design, which Visconti designed for the Moro di Venezia, dates from 1993 and represents the bow of the boat as it rides the waves. It’s found on both the Uffizi and Voyager fountain pens. In 2000, the Millennium collection paid homage to the change of epoch with a bridge-shaped clip, symbolizing the union between the old and new millennia. This clip, which incorporates the Visconti logo, soon became the calling card of the Florence-based firm, marking its new identity.

Along with the clip, 2004 saw the introduction of another design element that typifies Visconti’s current stylistic code: The square barrel with sharply rounded corners. Beginning with the Wall Street collection, this design gave birth to the Quadratura del Cerchio series, which drew its inspiration from Vitruvian Man, created by the ultimate Tuscan genius, Leonardo da Vinci.
Over the last ten years, Visconti has developed its own unique identity, combining design research, artisan quality and business acumen.
The result is a series of eye-catching miniature masterpieces, both limited and standard editions, beginning with 1991’s Ragtime up to the very recent black Lucite Divina on the cover of this issue. (Refer to the timeline in this article in which I list the pens that, in my opinion, are the most important made by Visconti.)

But the story doesn’t finish here. “There’ll be two extremely important product releases for our 20th anniversary,” says Del Vecchio, “Without giving away any secrets, one of these will be a tribute to fountain pen technology.”
Matching the success of the Divina won’t be easy, but Visconti has always surprised us up to now.

Giuseppe Romano