From De Ponti to Da Pozzo, 80 Years of Confcommercio Udine's History

The header mentions Umberto di Savoia, Prince of Piedmont, Lieutenant General of the Kingdom. The date is June 30, 1945. The location is a room "on the first floor of the house on Via Vittorio Veneto." Memoirs of the time place the building opposite the post office, at number 17.

THE ANNIVERSARY This document is historic. Confcommercio Udine carefully preserves it as a precious testament to its origins. A past that, incidentally, coincides with the founding of the national Confcommercio. In 2025, the 80th anniversary will be celebrated in Rome as in Udine, as written in the statute of the time, signed before notary Giusto Bronzin.

THE FOUNDATION

The "Association of Merchants of the Province of Udine" was founded by Massimiliano Martini, Viscardo Zavatti, Roberto Zoratto, Giuseppe Sferragatta, Marino Provvisionato, Pietro Rizzi, Aurelio Malaghini, Antonio De Re, Onofrio Marzano, Guido Cappelletto, Giovanni Chiaruttini, Ferruccio Iob, Amos De Ponti, Arturo Basevi, Enrico Burra, and Luigi Moschioni. The first board of directors was composed of Zoratto, De Ponti, Iob, Zavatti, Basevi, and Rizzi. The auditors Giuseppe Fabiano, Manlio Benedetti, and Guido Cappelletto were added. Etelredo Puppini and Leonardo Pelizzo were the alternate auditors. The president, as stated in the report by notary Bronzin, was elected by the committee. He was De Ponti, a merchant born in Desio.

DE PONTI AND THE BUILDING INDUSTRY

De Ponti, during his presidency of the traders' association, was, together with his wife Silvia Sala, the founder and owner of Edil Julia, a construction, sanitary ware, and faucet company with a branch in Pordenone.

FRIULIAN TRADE IN THE 1920s

Among the historical documents are reviews of "Commercio Friulano," the magazine for members. The longest-running issue, dated January 11, 1930 (covering, among other things, the government's financial policy and taxation), is noted as being the eighth year of publication. Printing, therefore, dates back to the early 1920s.

THE FIRST RULES

The first rules also date back to 1945. Registration was open to companies engaged in wholesale and retail trade of any kind of goods, as well as to business owners, "provided their headquarters or branch is in the province of Udine." Registration was free, but, as Article 7 of the 70-year-old statute clarified, it required a commitment "to pay annual fees for at least three years." The fees were set in relation to the company's taxable income: they ranged from a minimum of 150 to a maximum of 2,000 lire.

THE SECTIONS AND GROUPS

The association was divided into four sections: Section A, wholesalers; Section B, retail traders; Section C, merchants; and Section D, independent associations legally incorporated in the province of Udine and intending to join the association. The first groups (38 in all) also appeared: from textile, haberdashery, and hardware dealers to chemical and pharmaceutical products, from fresh fish importers and exporters to those dealing in livestock products, bonds, books, and paper, to commercial agents and freight forwarders, and dealers in iron and steel, metallurgical products, machinery, weapons, ammunition, and solid fuels. But virtually all sectors were already represented: goldsmiths, furniture makers, opticians, photographers, auto dealers, fruit and vegetable sellers, bakers, butchers, tobacconists, hoteliers, bartenders, and restaurateurs.

HEADQUARTERS AND PRESIDENTS

Since then, Confcommercio's provincial headquarters remained in Udine until 2013. In the early 1970s, the association moved its offices to Via della Rosta, and in 1989 it moved to Viale Duodo, where it remained for 24 years before moving to its new home in Feletto Umberto in October 2013. The presidents after De Ponti? Antonio Camuffo, Ricciotti Esente, Adone Zoratto, Guglielmo Querini, Claudio Ferri, and Giovanni Da Pozzo, currently in office.