The origins
In 1914, the first year of the Great War for Italy, Luigi Guidotti founded
a company where, from the very start, the atmosphere was rather special.
Credit for this must go to the intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit
of the founder, Luigi Guidotti, aided by a series of favourable circumstances.
First and foremost, the presence of one of Italy’s oldest and most celebrated
universities, Università degli Studi di Pisa, which Guidotti
shaped a cultural and professional alliance that fostered both the birth
and the growth of the company.
Between the two wars. Growth and early success
Between the two wars, Guidotti was transformed from a small workshop
into a modern company, extremely attentive to change and innovation.
The first cars and lorries began rolling into the yard of a company
which is now specialized in the production of certain essential amino
acids, such as L-tryptophan and L-histidine. The two best-selling Guidotti
products are Istofane and Iodarsenic. This was during the 1930's. The
company was still filling jars and bottles, but the technology was becoming
more and more advanced. The premises, untidy and noisy, were being transformed
into increasingly more sophisticated departments.
The 1950s: Guidotti grows
At the end of the 1950s, a second facility was opened at La Vettola,
on the outskirts of Pisa. It housed a research unit and a chemical production
unit. In the meantime, Guidotti also won important approval in the form
of official recognition from the Italian Ministry of Health.
Research continued without a break, generating one success after another.
Etafenone, Sorbinicate, Cyclosilic Acid and Rociverine are active ingredients
which conquer both Italian and foreign markets; some are still exported
to numerous countries today, both as raw materials and as finished products.
The 1960s: the advent of the first oral antidiabetics
Original research and development of the chemicals sector: a winning
combination which lead to the creation of the first products for the
oral treatment of diabetes. This was in the early 1960's.
The research continued and, in the years which followed, the company
became a leader in this field of therapy. High standards of quality
and safety were reached in all phases of the production cycle: work
was carried out behind glass screens, lab coats replaced aprons, and
the machinery churned out tablets, capsules and liquid medicines.
The 1980s: starting to work as a group
In 1983, Guidotti became part of the Menarini group, based in Florence.
The product range was renewed and market success helped Guidotti rise,
in the space of a single decade, from seventy-third to twenty-eighth
place among Italy’s almost 300 firms active in the sector. And naturally,
as the years went by, Guidotti gradually started to broaden its horizons,
without ever breaking the strong cultural ties the company has with
Tuscany.
The university, the spirit of Galileo, the Enlightenment culture all
make Pisa a very special city. And Guidotti has always breathed this
culture — it is in the company’s heart and in its head.
From the 1990s to the new headquarters: unlimited success
All of this has enabled Guidotti to commence a process of corporate internationalisation.
Menarini International, which also distributes Guidotti products, is present throughout Europe, in Central and South America, in almost all Asian countries and in many African states too. In addition to its international brand distribution, Guidotti is present with its own-brand products in Spain and Greece, the first steps of an international presence destined to grow wider and wider. Since 1st September, Guidotti has been in its new headquarters, in San Piero a Grado, near Pisa.