Saponificio G.S L’Abbate - Fasano

At the end of the 19th century, Apulia was still strongly tied to an agricultural economy, with little sign of industrialization compared to northern Italy. However, even in this context, the first elements of modernization, such as the réclame, began to appear. In the southern context, advertising represented not only a forward-looking commercial investment, but also took on a strong symbolic value: more than a mere market tool, it was a cultural object capable of expressing adherence to modernity and establishing a position within the emerging social and economic fabric. An emblematic case is that of the “G. S. L’Abbate” soap factory, founded by Giuseppe Sante between 1878 and 1880. The only soap factory in central and southern Italy to have reached, to this day, its fifth generation, it was among the few Apulian industrial enterprises capable of competing with Ligurian soaps. The company, which specialized in olive oil-based soaps, employed modern steam-powered plants and demonstrated a strong focus on visual communication from early on.

As early as the early 20th century, the L’Abbate Soap Works used color lithographic prints produced in Germany, then at the forefront of promotional and advertising printing. German sales representatives offered catalogs of pre-printed lithographic images in Italy, which could be customized with text. Italian manufacturers selected the images that best expressed their values; the Germans then handled the customization and printing. This system allowed even small businesses to access modern, affordable, and fast visual communication.

An important turning point in corporate communication came in 1923, when Stefano L’Abbate entrusted the renewal of the company’s image to the MAGA agency, founded by Giuseppe Magagnoli in 1921 in Paris and later active in Milan as well. For the occasion, a sketch by Achille Luciano Mauzan — a celebrated advertising artist active in Milan until 1923, before relocating to France — was used. The poster, likely created earlier or held in MAGA’s archives, depicts a vigorous housewife at the center, with white linen prominently displayed. The bold lines and vivid colors depart from the refinements of Art Nouveau in favor of a more direct and popular visual language. This style is similar to another poster by Mauzan, “Autolave” , created a few years later: same central figure structure, absence of ornamentation, emphasis on immediate visual impact. Thus, soap sheds its bourgeois character and becomes an everyday product intended for a broad audience, in line with the logic of mass consumption.

After World War II, between 1946 and 1950, the soap factory commissioned a poster for its RADIUM soap. This bears the initials “Gilardi-E / 946” and a Milanese address: “V. Golfieri - Via B. Marcello 1, Milan”. The signature likely refers to a technical engraver or printer, while the address confirms the Milan-based commission. The “Radium” poster presents iconographic similarities with the famous “Radia,” also by Mauzan: central figure, intense lighting, and an almost sacred aura surrounding the product. But why refer to radium? In the 1920s, following World War I, the West experienced a boom in industrial and scientific progress. Radioactivity, discovered between 1895 and 1898, was associated with a new form of energy, believed to have therapeutic potential. The theory of “osmosis,” which held that microdoses of toxic substances could generate positive effects, helped spread this imagery. Radioactivity became a trend in advertising: products such as creams, toothpastes, soaps, and beverages were promoted as sources of health and youth thanks to their “radioactive energy.” One of the most notorious examples was the French cosmetic line Tho-Radia, active from 1932 to 1968, founded by pharmacist Alexis Moussalli and Dr. Alfred Curie (a namesake but not related to the famous scientists). The products contained microdoses of radium and thorium, and the advertisements, illustrated by Tony Burnand, featured radiant women, seemingly illuminated by the product itself. Only after the introduction of new health regulations were radioactive substances removed — yet the brand continued to operate until it closed in 1968.

In conclusion, the “Radium” poster by Saponificio L’Abbate and Mauzan’s “Radia” confirm the existence of a transnational iconographic current which, despite stylistic differences, shared an aesthetic rooted in the evocation of science and progress. The L’Abbate Soap Factory thus fits into a broader European visual culture in which advertising became an expression of a collective mindset that saw science as a new form of everyday life.