Stopping at the Autogrill has become a real habit for many motorists, not only in Italy. Here’s what happened
“Stop all’Autogrill”: the refreshment point par excellence for those who travel long stretches of motorway with their own vehicles is now considered a “must” in the movements of car and truck drivers. The climate after news of closure of the business is one of amazement and bewilderment, since few know that l’Autogrill it is a brand in all respects and over time it has become synonymous with a great entrepreneurial history.
It all started in the 40s thanks to the genius of a young industrialist from Novara, son of a baker. Mario Pavesi, the very creator of the pavesini, devised a small shop selling biscuits on the Turin-Milan route at the Novara toll booth. A showcase for the products created in the nearby family factory.
That bar with tables and pergola after the end of the war, in the 1950s, became with the boom of the economy (more cars, more trucks, more goods, more petrol supplies) the first rest stop for motorists in Italy. The diffusion in the 60s and 70s was enormous and in the 80s the transition to a joint stock company arrived before the privatization and listing on the stock exchange in the 1990s. A resounding success: today the Autogrills ensure and offer cafeteria, gastronomy, entertainment and shopping services à la “people on the move”.
“The Autogrill closes”, but there is a happy ending
The brand continues in its expansion and brand consolidation throughout Italy, but it’s there a story that saw him as an unaware “victim”. In Potenza (Basilicata) Anas has in fact considered access to the service area to be illegal of the Autogrill putting the jobs of 16 employees are at risk in the Sicignano-Potenza junction. The workers are chained in protest in front of the structure.
The job position had become at risk, in reality, also for 24 other people engaged in refueling and in the area reserved for an adjacent hotel. The situation at the end of 2022 had become truly dramatic and has regional policy involved (councillors, municipality of Potenza, Basilicata Region, builders, engineers and Anas managers) at all grades and levels.
It was becoming a nightmare: from day to night the whole structure was totally put at risk of continuity due to the entrance and exit lanes to the parking area, considered illegal. The intervention of the Prefect of Potenza Michele Campanaro was decisive: it was he who became the mediator of the matter in front of all the parties to the dispute. Anas, together with the management of the bankruptcy trustees of Lucana Carburanti, Autogrill Spa and the Basilicata Region, is already dealing with all the procedures and feasibility studies for bringing the area up to standard. To the delight of workers and…motorists.