Autogrill history

The first Autogrill di Novara, 1953.

Bianchetti himself attests this in an interesting report of a journey published by the magazine “Quattroruote” (four wheels) in 1960, describing the diffusion of auto-grills areas observed during his travel in the United States and in Germany and comparing it with the Italian situation.

Motta did not sit on its hands: in 1961, the Motta-grill in Cantagallo opened its doors, a colossus that would come to dominate the segment of the Autostrada del Sole (“Motorway of the Sun”) between Bologna and Florence.

Autogrill in Novara, 1962.

After mass motorisation became a reality, in 1970 there were over 200 rest areas throughout the entire motorway system, which spanned over 3,900 km.

Lastly; the one in Nocera (Salerno, 1971), presents an interesting combination with the function of motel, attempted as an enlargement project in the one in Novara as well, but then never built.

Built to replace the previous lateral restoration point, it is the largest ever built by Bianchetti; It represents a moment of formal maturity in the evolution of these structures and it is formally similar to the one later built in Osio (Bergamo) in 1972.

1982: Autogrill launches its Ciao restaurants concept.

Dubbed Spizzico, the new restaurant concept was launched in 1989, with a first restaurant in Piemonte.

In 1993, Autogrill took its first step beyond Italy, forming a 50-50 joint venture with Spain's Cepsa in order to take over that country's Propace roadside restaurant chain.

The company continued to invest in its Spanish subsidiary, acquiring the Hermesa y Arhos restaurant group in 1995.

Autogrill went public in 1996--although Edizioni maintained a 57 percent controlling share of the group.

By 1997, the company had launched its restaurant, elaborating on its long-held bridge-like structure, and incorporating not only a Ciao restaurant, but its Spizzico, Market, and Snack Bar formats as well.

1998: Company acquires AC Restaurants & Hotels in the Netherlands and Frantour Restauration in France.

Meanwhile, HMSHost became Autogrill's launch pad for entry into the United States--the company opened its first Spizzico restaurant in New York in 2000.

Autogrill showed no signs of slowing down in 2002.