Italy, home of the Coliseum and the Appian Way, and setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was awakening to the first rays of a sun which held the promise of blessing from the ancient goddess of dawn, while the new company took her very name, and the promise it held for perpetual renewal and success. Helping to lead the resurgence of Italian gentility and grace in fashion and design, a singular style emerged in the workshops of Torino, reflecting the sun-drenched Alpine valleys of the Piemonte region. From the very first, Aurora demonstrated that it was able to produce recherché writing instruments, both comely and durable. Aurora was simply ahead of the field in the successful combining of artistic tradition and Italian design, in the production of writing instruments.

Precious materials and artisanal skills came together to produce implements that would help to make history. An almost tragic, yet ultimately fortuitous, event would provide inarguable evidence of their technical excellence, and quality of manufacture: In 1928, legendary Italian aeronautical engineer and explorer, Umberto Nobile, piloted his new dirigible, the Italia, on an historic second expedition to map the Arctic ice cap of the North Pole. The enterprise failed when severe weather downed the airship. Because Nobile took an Aurora fountain pen, with which he kept a journal, we have a record of his and his crew’s 48-day near-death struggle of survival. Seventy-nine years later, in 2007, a special limited edition, the Umberto Nobile LE, would be issued, commemorating the mission, its presumed loss, and ultimate rescue.

Founded in via della Basilica 9, in the heart of Torino, but destroyed in 1943 by the bombardments of WWII, in the post-war period Aurora moved its facilities to the northern suburbs of the city, in the Abbadia di Stura area, just behind the old Stura Abbey. Since roman times, the cloister and church provided hospitality for monks, men of culture, and pilgrims, constituting a leading centre of cultural and spiritual life. In the shadow of this historic monument, in the evocative building that hosts senior management and general offices, business is carried out today with more than fifty countries round the world.

In 2004, the 85th Anniversary LE was issued. An ongoing "celebration of the continents" has produced a series of superlative pieces, the Africa, the Asia, and the Europa. In this latest, from factories to the train, from the double helix of the DNA molecule to stars symbolizing the European Union, the ring of the cap retraces fundamental steps in the often torturous, but always exciting multi-cultural journey through the centuries. Illuminating the marbled Fumo di Londra resin barrel, the clip is inlaid with a map of the continent, and blue quartz embellishes the cap.

Undergirding such special and limited editions are the extensive general collections accessible to all, and many of which have themselves been around for decades. This extensive array includes, but is not confined to the following:

Aurora still produces all of its materials and items on-site, at its own facilities; and is, therefore, in an increasingly rare position to respond to, not only changes in taste and demand, but the vicissitudes of global commerce and supply. When purchasing an Aurora pen or accessory, one can be assured that the item chosen authentically represents the vision and commitment that coalesced over eight decades ago in the Piemonte region Northern Italy.