Between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the town of Maglie was well-known in the Land of Otranto for being one of the most dynamic economical and commercial centres.
Within this frame, the existing artisan workshops were becoming small industrial companies: this is the case of the Piccinno family, whose members evolved from being master artisans to industrial owners.
Luigi Piccinno senior (1847-1901) was the forefather who founded the Ditta Luigi Piccinno (“Luigi Piccinno Company”) in March 1863.
The chronicles of the time described him as a “smart, industrious man, gifted with brilliant artistic skills”, an entrepreneur who managed to pass down to his children a strong aesthetic sense – the true key to understand the magnificence of his Company.
Thirty years after the beginning of his activity, forty-five labourers worked in the workshop-company: carpenters, cabinet makers, and young apprentices who studied industrial design, execution ad art under the guidance of Luigi Piccinno.
Luigi, endowed with superb industriousness, educated his sons Ernesto, Luigi jr., Adolfo, Niccolò, Romeo and Giuseppe in the art of cabinetry. They learned his teachings and became makers of artistic furniture themselves. During these years, after integrating his six sons in his workshops, Luigi decided to transform the artisan workshop into the Stabilimento Artistico Mobili e Arti Decorative Ditta Luigi Piccinno (“Luigi Piccinno Company – Artistic Factory of Furniture and Decorative Arts”). He also decided to scale the production of furniture thanks to the growing approval of the local bourgeoisie, which admired his artistic production characterised by ingenious works of sober aesthetic taste.