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Smeg's historic Guastalla site

HeritageGuastalla · Since 1948

A family story,
drawn in Italy.

Smeg began as a metalworking company in Emilia-Romagna. Its history is a conversation between engineering, architecture and the Italian instinct for objects with presence.
Smeg · Guastalla · Since 1948Scroll

The milestones

Technology becomes culture.

  1. 1948

    Smeg begins in Guastalla

    Vittorio Bertazzoni founded Smeg in Guastalla, Emilia-Romagna — a region shaped by manufacturing, food and design.

  2. 1955

    The Elisabeth cooker

    One of Smeg's first landmark cookers established the company's belief that domestic technology could also have character.

  3. 1970

    A new way to wash

    Smeg introduced Niagara, a 14-place-setting dishwasher designed for a changing modern home.

  4. 1977

    The Smeg identity

    Designer and publisher Franco Maria Ricci created the distinctive Smeg logo still recognised today.

  5. 1985

    Architecture meets appliances

    Collaborations with architects including Guido Canali brought a disciplined architectural language to Smeg products and spaces.

  6. 1997

    The FAB icon

    The rounded FAB28 refrigerator launched, transforming a functional appliance into an expressive interior object.

  7. Today

    Technology with style

    Smeg continues to connect Italian design culture with research across cooking, refrigeration, washing and small appliances.

Smeg FAB refrigerator

1997 · FAB

When an appliance became an icon.

The FAB refrigerator made colour, rounded form and individuality part of the kitchen. It remains Smeg's most recognisable expression of technology with style.

Explore FAB