presenta

A non-portrait
of Davide Campari

The picture of an enlightened vision

• Written by Fabio Bergamini
• Illustrated by Matteo Berton

NNegatives of passport-sized photographs, a family portrait, a faded picture of him pretending to crank the engine of a car.

And then there’s that photo in which Davide Campari, wearing an elegant suit and a cyclist cap lowered onto his face, looks with curiosity at the camera from the roof of his new factory in Sesto San Giovanni, Milan.

The legends of that fabulous year 1904 run one after the other, and the emphatic voices of the paper Corriere della Sera only herald and promote them. Although he had long understood the importance of photography in promoting his liquors, Davide wasn’t fond of posing in front of a lens himself.

A peculiar fact, considering he was the first baby born in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, the drawing room and beating heart of an Italy that was changing at a rapid pace. There are no photo albums, there are no biographies,

However, that red autumn morning in the photo had to be immortalized.

Shortly after, the new factory had become the scene of the creation of a type of drink destined for the passionately excited clientele.

From that rooftop, imagination flew into the streets of the centre of Milan. Famous for loving the social rite of strolling in the city center, Davide used to love walking through the streets in the vicinity of the Galleria, listening to the singing coming from Teatro alla Scala, smiling at the people charmed by his charisma, overwhelmed by his cordiality.

Surrounded by the elaborately-designed, clicking heels and seductive figures wrapped in the latest-fashions, he imagined that type of refined, modern woman featured in the posters for the newest celebrated Red Bitter from Casa Campari.

To evoke that elitist world, he unhesitatingly contacted the best artists of the time, from Dudovich to Cappiello, because, as he loved to say,

A visionary in that, he introduced the industry of his elixirs into the world of art. He took charge of their promotion first-hand creating the adverts and devising the distribution himself.

“A distinguished example of a bold industrialist friend of artists” is how he was described according to Fortunato Depero, designer of the original bottle for the first ready-to-drink aperitif created by Davide, the Campari Soda. The single-dose content and the iconic shape that would make history in both design and advertising, revolutionized with style and vision the market in which he was already the leader.

Artists, literates and the Milanese youth met at his Camparino café, where the crystal of glasses took on a red hue.

In such a cosmopolitan atmosphere, the social ritual of the aperitif started to spread: contemporary, sophisticated and with incomparable class.

The same class radiated by that the /iginger-bearded Davide when shaking hands and signing contracts.

Though the young Campari was proud of the handicraft origins and cutting-edge alchemy that formed his company, the business established by the bold entrepreneur with a composed realism was already speaking an international language.

At the same time, Davide was an example for his employees: authoritative, but never authoritarian, an authentic industry captain able to get his hands dirty, and bold in giving shape to unique intuitions.

The only one who would show, with pride and without filters, the pioneering machinery of his factory, perfect gears in creating not only unmistakable liquors, but also imagery to savor through the glasses, mirrors of a world sparkling without needing too much light.

In a few moments, Davide would get down from that roof and onto a tramcar to see Milan from its window, sipping a street called The Future with his own eyes, murmuring to himself