In November 1957 the first Esselunga supermarket opened in Milan, the start of a long company history entwined with the work of famous architects and graphic designers

摘要

"The one-eyed man rules in the land of the blind" is an Italian aphorism that well describes the approach of the Esselunga supermarket chain, which constructs buildings that are sympathetic to their surroundings. Founded in 1957 by the Caprotti brothers in partnership with the Rockefeller family, Italy's first supermarket opened on 27 November 1957 in Viale Regina Giovanna, Milan, replacing a former repair shop. Its founder, Bernardo Caprotti (1925-2016), wrote about the aesthetics of his stores saying, "I don't think making lovely things costs much more than making ugly ones; it takes just a touch of elegance and someone who is good with a pencil." He knew people who were good with a pencil, first and foremost Max Huber who, by 1957, was a world-renowned graphic designer; he created the sign with the extended "S" from which the current name of the supermarket is derived: "Esselunga" (long S). Then in 1960, Caprotti turned to Gio Ponti for his fourth supermarket in Milan, the first one constructed on a vacant site. Ponti's 800-m2 building was small and the supermarket soon had to be demolished, a decision Bernardo Caprotti lamented during a lectio magistralis on 20 January 2010 when he was awarded an honorary degree in architecture by the La Sapienza University, precisely because, when building his supermarkets, Caprotti "gave architecture a central role by collaborating with leading contemporary architects."