It is over 600 years that people are aware of the excellent quality of the mineral water bottled in San Pellegrino Terme (Bergamo) and even Leonardo da Vinci traveled there to sample and examine it. However, it was in 1899 that San Pellegrino Company was founded and subsequently listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. 120 years later, the company – owned by Nestlé since 1997 – exports in over 150 countries and manages other brands like Vera, Levissima and Acqua Panna.
In the first year of its activity, San Pellegrino Company bottled by hand 35,343 bottles of water and 5,562 of these are shipped abroad, and the bottles already had the same characteristic elongated shape that still today is associated with the brand. In 1905, the bottled water was sold in the main Italian and European, as well as in Cairo, Tangiers, Shanghai, Calcutta, Sydney, Brazil, Peru, and the United States. In 1997, San Pellegrino S.p.A. was bought by Perrier Vittel SA, a division of Nestlé and, in 2017, one billion bottles were sold globally. Today the plant in San Pellegrino produces 50,000 bottles every hour.
120 years after its foundation, San Pellegrino celebrates the identity of its brand with two ‘120 Years Anniversary Limited Edition‘ bottles. A limited edition bottle with a silver-lined ‘120 Year Anniversary’ label has been created to grace the tables of the best restaurants around the world, the other is embellished with diamond-shaped rivets that rise directly from the surface. The company website explains: “Multifaceted, pure, and meant to last forever, diamonds capture the essence of your best moments in life. These diamond-shaped bottles are destined specifically to accompany some of the most exclusive San Pellegrino events this year.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett