Attilio Fontana and his brother split up and the latter moved to Este, where he founded a new charcuterie that still exists today. At the time, the firm employed about 20 people; extending the plant was then necessary to expand the shipping room and build a storage facility. During this period, the founder’s teenage children also began to take an interest in the firm.

Attilio Fontana Prosciutti went through wartime not without some difficulty. The periodic requisitioning of the plant and some production means, as well as the exclusive supply of troops are testified by numerous documents in the family archives.

Attilio Fontana Prosciutti had already joined the General Confederation of Italian Industry in 1928 – an association suppressed and re-established after the war as the Associazione degli Industriali of the Province of Padua. Our firm was one of the first 25 registered businesses from Padua.

After obtaining his Law degree, Angelo Luigi and his brother Giovanni took over the family business in 1955. Supported by Attilio during the first delicate stages, they also carried out an expansion of the plant. Indeed, between 1960 and 1962 they extended the premises, designed by Eng. Dino Ziglio: the second floor was raised, in order to build a room for the maturation of Prosciutto only. The construction company Flavio Danielli carried out the work using state-of-the-art materials and construction methods. After the premature death of Angelo Luigi in 1962, Giovanni decided to interrupt the butchery activity and salami production in order to specialise only on the processing and maturing of Prosciutto Crudo.

The firm further specialised in the production of Prosciutto Veneto only. Under the careful guidance of its founder, Attilio Fontana Prosciutti particularly focused on enhancing employee satisfaction and welfare, planning numerous trips for the benefit of all. Some of the destinations of those years were Lake Iseo, Redipuglia, Trieste, San Pellegrino Terme and the Verona Arena to attend opera performances – all locations of real team building to get to know each other and share life experiences beyond the daily work at the firm.

Attilio and Giorgio – Giovanni’s eldest sons –  officially joined the firm in the 1980s. Together, they took over the shares in the ham factory of Angelo Luigi’s heirs, who were pursuing other careers.

Since the early years, Attilio has been in charge of sales and production, while Giorgio has managed the administration of the firm, continuing to produce and promote Prosciutto Crudo in shops and restaurants throughout the Veneto region and the whole country.

Attilio Fontana Prosciutti received the ‘Dino Villani’ award from the Italian Academy of Cuisine for ‘the quality of the product in the food tradition in the field of prosciutti crudi’. This is one of the most prestigious Italian awards, reserved for the owners of businesses that have long stood out for their promotion of top-quality food products.

In 1995, the ham factory was almost completely restructured to comply with the new European sanitary requirements. In 1996, the European Union granted the Protected Designation of Origin to Prosciutto Veneto, after which the Consortium of Prosciutto Veneto – established in 1971 – became the institute responsible for promoting and protecting the product at a national and international level.  Attilio Fontana jr. was elected President in 1999, and was confirmed as such for three terms.

At the turn of the millennium, Giovanni’s third son Pietro officially joined the family business. After graduating in Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, he worked for a few years as a researcher at the Experimental Institute of Tobacco; in 2002, he got in charge of the production and became the direct sales manager.

In line with the production tradition of Montagnana, Prosciutto Veneto DOP became the object of a special festival celebrating and promoting the fine product. Born as ‘Festa del Prosciutto’, in 2013 it became ‘Montagnana in Festa – Prosciutto Veneto DOP’. This annual festival takes place in May in the evocative setting within the walls of the historic city centre.

We also started thinking about our firm’s centenary celebrations, recalling the milestones of our history. In this respect, even the labels of our products play a role in telling our story, which is rediscovered and valued through the developments of our design. 

16^th February 1919 – 16^th February 2019. With our centenary celebrations, Giacomo’s career path at our firm begins. Giorgio’s son and sole heir, he represents the 4^th generation working in our family business, and is committed to continuing the tradition started with his great-grandfather Attilio and following in his footsteps. Our commitment is to preserve his legacy very carefully, providing thorough training for our master prosciutto makers, who work here with passion and professionalism.

Just as Giovanni Fontana used to train Guerrino Lazzarin and Cesare Andriolo in the smearing process, so do today Attilio, Giorgio, Pietro and Giacomo, who personally follow all the production stages. We continue our centuries-old family tradition with Giorgio Oliviero, Aldo Rosina, Marco Garbin and Riccardo Oliviero – the current team of Prosciuttificio Fontana.

Our centenary is also an opportunity to update our firm’s image, making it more modern and paying particular attention to the meaningful visual aspects of our brand. A renewed enthusiasm to reinforce the artisan identity of our high-quality product.