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History of the company/bank and archive description for Barilla G.e.R. F.IIiS S.p.A.

Barilla's origins can be traced back to 1877 when Pietro Barilla Senior opened shop on Strada Vittorio Emanuele in Parma. He was a descendent of a family of bakers going back to 1576. Barilla's history is distinguished by constant and progressive growth. In 1910, a factory was built in Barriera Vittorio Emanuele. It then was time for Pietro's sons, Gualtiero and Riccardo, to take command. Gualtiero died a premature death, and Riccardo, helped by his wife Virginia, held the reins of the company until 1947. After World War II, Riccardo's sons, Pietro and Gianni, created the solid foundation that led to strong growth in the 1950s. During this period, a new factory was built on Via Veneto in 1955, and another in Pedrignano in 1968. In 1970, Gianni and Pietro Barilla yielded the company to the American multinational, Grace. In 1979, Pietro Barilla acquired a majority of shares of Barilla, and held control until 1993. Upon his death his sons, Guido, Luca, and Paolo took over the leadership of the family company. Today, Barilla is the market leader for pasta in the world, and number one in Europe for bakery products under the Mulino Bianco and Wasa brands.

The Barilla Group

Beginning in the 1970s, different companies have become part of the Barilla Group bringing it specific technological and commercial contributions, but also their own cultural richness -- fruit of their own histories and company traditions. Today, the Barilla Historic Archives holds, for the most part, materials, but just as importantly it also holds company archives -- as much as time has allowed us to preserve -- of other companies in history including: Braibanti (founded in Parma by Engineer Ennio Braibanti in 1870), Pavesi (started in Novara in 1940 by Mario Pavesi), Tre Marie (a very old Milan pastry maker starting from 1896), and Voiello (started in Torre Annunziata by Teodoro Voiello in 1879). The documentation for these companies is organized similarly to Barilla's own archives.

Under the directive by the company chairman, the Historical Archives Project was launched in 1987 with the goal of preserving and placing value in the historic documents of the century old company. The guidelines for developing the Archives over the following years were delineated right away: recover the memory of the past, preserve the archival materials and documents following the most up-to-date methods, enhance their value to make them part of the company's culture and the wider social reality once again. Villa Magnani was designated as an appropriate location for the Archives. The archival collection was only a fraction of the size then that it is today. The Art Nouveau building had belonged to a cheese merchant family and bordered with land owned by Riccardo Barilla. Today, this land parcel makes up part of the area of the Parma factory.

Once it was restored, the villa's large cellar, with its suggestive terracotta arches, was chosen to hold the Barilla Historic Archives (BHA). For decades the cellar had been used to hold thousands of Parmesan cheese wheels. This very fact meant that the cellar's temperature and humidity level remained constant through the different seasons making it ideal for archival preservation.

Since a substantial part of the company archives went astray and in part were destroyed in the 1970s, the company had to seek out all possible archival material inside and outside the company. Along with the archives, the original organizational system for the documents was lost; thus creating an archival ordering by class/category was necessary. This fact gave the undeniable advantage of guaranteeing the best conditions for document preservation as a function of their varied typology.

Today, the BHA contains a sizeable and high quality collection of more than 20,000 items of documentation -- fundamental for anyone who wishes to trace, in part or in whole, the history and the business activities of Barilla.

The Archives Collection includes:

• Photographic Archives
• Press Reviews
• Library
• Audio Library
• Film/Video Library
• Periodicals
• Catalogues
• Awards and Prizes
• Financial Statements
• Machinery
• Packaging
• Archives
• Post Cards
• Pasta Shapes
• Publicity Material
• Chronology
• Corporate Stationary
• The Barilla Family

Through a computerized cataloguing system and the help of the most up-to-date information and optical technology, it is possible to carry out research using an index of key words and instantly view the information on a monitor. All the documents in the archives containing the key words will appear subdivided by type categories to guarantee adequate preservation of the large harvest of materials.

A Living Archive

The Historic Archives preserve the evidence of life, projects, choices, strategies, and products of the people who have worked for Barilla. Obviously, it is not about a "cemetery of memories", but about a living archive, one that is constantly fed and updated, a promoter of editorial and cultural initiatives bent on making the most of the documents and memories preserved in the Archives. A living archive bears in mind that today's actions will be tomorrow's history, and could come back and "speak" if only someone has the desire and the will to "read" them.

Hours: Fridays, 9:00am - 5:00 p.m. on appointment only.

To access the archives: Phone to make an appointment with the Archives Director, or make a written request. It may be sent by fax, giving general information including your name, a contact phone number, and the type of research to be done.

For the public:

Document consultation on site only, no loans.

Computer research of the documentation.

Research assistance for university theses: written request sent either by mail or fax, including one's name and address, a telephone number, the thesis advisor, thesis title, and thesis topic. The information must be filled out on university letterhead, and the form on the facing page must be filled out.

Directions:

By car: Autostrada A1 Milano-Bologna. Exit at Parma Nord. Go south toward the city center. Take the inner ring road eastbound. Go to the Barriera Repubblica stop light. Parking available.

By train: Parma FS train station. Take the n° 8 bus, get off at Barriera Repubblica.