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The first Lombardo bicycle was literally put together by recovering war remnants, painted with DDT spray, later banned but very popular at the time. It was 1952. Gaspare Lombardo was convinced that two wheels would be the future of mobility on the dirt roads of Sicily. In Buseto Palizzolo, in the Trapani area, he had his own blacksmith shop, 30 square meters: his specialty was horse shoes but he had started repairing bicycles. Then in the 1980s, when horses were almost out of sight, he decided to focus on the mobility of the future with a first 600 square meter shed and machinery designed at the crossroads between his experience and his ingenuity.
“In a country devoted to agriculture they thought he was crazy. But he was driven by passion and the desire to demonstrate that business can also be done in Sicily, despite the logistical difficulties”, recalls Emilio Lombardo, the youngest of Gaspare’s three sons who took over the company during the transition of century and who is now Lombardo’s CEO. Today that warehouse covers 25 thousand square metres, complete with a warehouse, painting plant, offices, research and development division, but also a nursery and gym for the employees, around twenty with qualified experience in two wheels. In the first years production was around one hundred pieces per year, today between 400 and 500 per day come out of the plant proudly remaining in Buseto Palizzolo, for a turnover that has risen to 40 million euros.
The challenge of doing business on the island was therefore won, as was that of producing bicycles in Italy, under national ownership. Today the 180 models, from the traditional city bike to the ebike, from the racing bike to the mountain bike, all have names inspired by Italian locations: starting from Etna and Mondello, going up passing through Maratea, Amalfi, Cassia to arrive at Garda, Bormio, Brenta . But it stops at the border. At least as far as the models are concerned, because in reality Lombardo has a strong international projection with 63% of production crossing borders and ending up abroad. On the other hand, the new generation has focused on internationalization from the beginning. In 2007, a branch was opened in Germany, near Stuttgart, as a bridge towards the advanced Northern Europe in terms of two wheels: “For us it represented the projection towards a developed market which allowed us to deal with the culture of mobility , of responsibility and the importance of quality”, continues Emilio Lombardo. Today, outside of Italy, the main markets are Germany, France and the United Kingdom “We are targeting new markets, such as the United States and South America, but we are focusing first on Europe because it still has great potential. The important thing is to continue with that gradualness that allows us to continue on our own strength.”
For Lombardo, the bicycle is a product that remains mainly familiar, not only for enthusiasts: the customer is to be pampered with the personalization of the product, with colors chosen by the individual, but also with the sense of responsibility that leads to choosing correct, adequate prices to quality. On the other hand, the family’s bet is another successful one, since the generational transition occurred smoothly: all three brothers are active in the company, Emilio leads the strategies, shared by the other two brothers on the board of directors. And also from dad Gaspare who still comes to the company today to supervise the machinery and technical aspects. “But always with great respect and discretion: he was able to convey his passion to us, but he left us free to make mistakes”.
