The Montecatini company was founded in Florence in 1888 for the exploitation of the copper mines in Montecatini Val di Cecina (Pisa) and subsequently extended its activity to the mining, chemical, metallurgical, electrical and pharmaceutical industries; in the thirties the company had its own logo that depicted the alembic, a symbol of chemistry, with an element of the metallurgical industry. It was subjected to a restyling in 1960 by the graphic designer Carlo Dradi with the graphic essentialization of the still combined with the alphabetical element, the letter “M”, obtaining a graphic sign where the name and activity of the industrial group were harmonized.

The Edison company, on the other hand, was founded in Milan in 1884 and had played a prominent role in the field of the electrical industry; its logo drew on mythology by depicting two rampant centaurs at the stroke of a spark.

In 1966 the merger between the Edison and Montecatini companies took place, giving life to “Montedison”, an industrial holding that had the task of coordinating a group of companies that boasted a long tradition and solid leadership in their reference markets: agro-industry, energy, chemicals and engineering.

The study of the Montedison logo was set up following the aforementioned merger and the new logo, created by Landor Associates, also replaced all the old logos of the companies belonging to the Montedison group which, starting from 1972, used the four-element graphic sign next to the logotype reproduced in the characteristic Montedison lettering (see Standa). In 1987, as a seal to the commercial agreement with Shell, the two logos appeared together.

From the ashes of Montedison, in 2003, the merger of the major companies in the sector gave birth to a new company, Edison, which is a leading player in the energy sector in Italy. The logo, created by Area Strategic, features a green “e” displayed with circular arcs that evoke the circularity of the earth and the sun, the original matrices of energy. The dynamism of the logo is contrasted by the solid neutrality of the gray logo composed in uppercase Akzidenz Grotesk. The company has been controlled since 2012 by the EDF Group (Electricité de France), European leader in the electricity sector and promoter of the energy transition towards a low carbon future.

To clarify the new positioning of the company, in 2016 the logo was changed, which is borrowed from that of the group to which it belongs; the reference to the centrality of the person is represented by the choice of a soft and human stroke made up of orange brushstrokes. The name uses the blue letters with a lowercase “e” while the others are uppercase.