Onorato Dompé, Identity Card (1927)
Right from the start, Dompé’s story has been more than a record of innovative products: it also reflects an early commitment to communication as a strategic driver of growth and identity. At a time when the pharmaceutical industry was taking its first steps towards modern forms of promotion, Onorato Dompé recognized ahead of others the value of a constant and transparent dialogue with his audience.
In addition to investing in advertising, he passionately embraced the role of publisher, turning print media into a tool for cultural and commercial development. He served as editor of leading publications such as the Gazzetta Medica di Milano, a historic journal founded in 1842 by luminaries including Bartolomeo Panizza and Agostino Bertani, and the Gazzetta Farmaceutica Italiana, the official publication of the pharmacists’ professional association. Through these publications, Onorato reached a wide range of audiences, discreetly including information on the Dompé-Adami laboratory and its Farmacie Inglesi – in Ponte Chiasso, in Palermo at Piazza Bologni 23, and in Milan at Piazza della Scala 5 and Via Carlo Alberto 31 – alongside scientific articles.
Gazzetta Farmaceutica Italiana (No. 8-9, June–July 1913)
Catalogo Generale Illustrato (1913)
Il Profumiere Italiano (Volume I, March 1901)
His vision found its fullest expression in Il Profumiere e Saponiere Italiano, a magazine he founded and directed from 1901 to 1909. The publication was conceived with a clear aim: to inform readers about “everything useful, interesting and practical […] developed in other countries”, so that every Italian perfumer could “prepare, study and perfect similar products”, freeing themselves from dependence on foreign production. Onorato’s ambition was to elevate the profession, making Italian perfumers and soap makers more aware and knowledgeable. This commitment received tangible recognition when, between 1902 and 1903, the professional association was established, and the journal was designated as its official publication. In 1906, following the Milan International Exhibition, the journal could proudly announce that Italian industry had “splendidly” asserted itself, to the point that it “no longer needed to feel embarrassed, as it had in the past, before its foreign counterparts”.
This editorial vocation would become a distinctive feature of Dompé’s entrepreneurial story — a valuable legacy that would later find its natural evolution in the vision of Onorato’s son, Franco, and in the pages of Bellezza d’Italia.
Cover of Bellezza d’Italia, No. 6, 1953
Cardioritmon, advertisment by Franco Grignani (Bellezza d’Italia, No. 6, 1951)
