Cup was created by a family company in a city in the metropolitan region of Milan and returns after the World Cup for repairs
“When I was a child, I used to say at school that my father won the World Cup. Nobody believed it. Now my daughter says that her mother makes the World Cup cup. Nobody believes it.” It is with good humor and great courtesy that Valentina Losa, 38 years old, received the report from State last Monday morning. In the large room on the top floor of the company GDE Bertoni, founded by his great-grandfather in 1907, trophies and medals are on display. Nothing attracts attention as much as the World Cup cup, in the center of the table.
The trophy was created by his family's company, GDE Bertoni, replacing Jules Rimet, which was permanently owned by Brazil after winning the third World Cup in Mexico in 1970 (and was later stolen). The company is a source of pride for Paderno Dugnano, a city in the greater Milan area, where it has been operating since 1995.
In Valentina's family workshop, seven artisans produce medals and cups for various sports and championships. From the Champions League to the Baseball World Championship, including world tournaments in swimming, beach volleyball, women's football and other sports.
The FIFA World Cup, with its 5 kilos of 18 carat gold and its two layers of malachite – those little green bands at the base -, totaling 6,17 kilos, returns to Paderno Dugnano once every four years, always after the Worldwide. “Here we polish it, make small repairs and replace the malachite, which always breaks when handled”, says artisan Pietro Brambilla, 45, who has worked there since 1998. His parents, Luigi and Paola, worked in the same factory for, respectively, 40 and 37 years. One life.
During the repairs, the name of the last winning team is also engraved on the base of the cup. “When Italy won in 2006, we celebrated with great celebration,” recalls the craftsman.
For security, the exact date on which the World Cup is in Paderno is never revealed. “We take more care when entering and leaving the factory and I practically sleep in here”, says Valentina. The shelf life of the cup varies depending on the need for repairs and even the availability of the material. “Sometimes, malachite takes two weeks to arrive”, explains Brambilla.
The company is a pride of Paderno Dugnano, a city in the metropolitan region of Milan Paderno Dugnano, Italy. © Paolo Vezzoli
replicas
But the original cup is not the only official one. According to FIFA rules, this completely gold piece is only used at the awards ceremony and then returns to the entity's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. So the countries that won the World Cup after 1970, Germany (three times, in 1974, 1990 and 2014), Brazil (twice, 1994 and 2002), Italy (twice, 1982 and 2006), Argentina (twice, times, 1978 and 1986), France (1998) and Spain (2010) are, definitively, left with an authorized replica, exactly like the one the report was able to discover last Monday.
According to Brambilla, the model is visually identical to the original. With one small (and quite valuable) difference: the material. Instead of 18-karat gold, it is an alloy of copper and zinc, plated in gold. This cup also, if maintenance is required, returns to the GDE Bertoni workshop. “There was a time when there were seven of us here at the same time. It was a party”, says the artisan.
When polishing, you need to be very careful not to wear out the cup. “This is eye and head work,” says Brambilla, showing the equipment used in the process. After being cleaned and restored, the cup is again gold-plated. Or rather: three. “It takes three coats, interspersed with cleaning done with baking soda,” she says.
Since the Jules Rimet Cup was retired, this is the first World Cup that Italy has not played in – after the other two times that Italy Azzurra he was left out of the World Cup in 1930 and 1958, before 1970. “We are sad, but at least we know that the world cup is ours”, jokes craftsman Salvatore Iannetti, 48 years old. “As for our team, it’s better to stay out than be embarrassed. We need to be reborn in football.”
Fan of Michelangelo, creator didn't like football
The origins of GDE Bertoni date back to 1907. It was on Corso Garibaldi, a street then known for being a stronghold for artisans in Milan, Lombardy. There, Emilio Bertoni began making decorative plates and other metal work. “It was a small, completely artisanal studio”, says the current owner, Valentina Losa, great-granddaughter of the founder.
The company's headquarters moved from Milan to Novate Milanese in the 1940s. It has been operating at its current location in Paderno Dugnano since 1995.
Bertoni's growth came with the world of sports. In 1960, the company, then already led by Eugenio Losa, the founder's son-in-law, closed a contract to supply the medals for the Rome Olympic Games. Ten years later, with the 1970 World Cup, Italy's defeat to the Brazilian team, who would have thought, would represent a victory for the Italian company.
This is because, according to FIFA rules, the Jules Rimet trophy would definitely go to the country that first won the World Cup three times, a feat achieved by Pelé, Tostão, Rivellino and company. Thus, the football organization was forced to choose another cup. “There was a competition, in which 53 companies participated. My father, Giorgio Losa, personally took the prototype of the trophy, in plaster, to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland”, says Valentina.
The design, created by goldsmith Silvio Gazzaniga, who was an employee of the company, beat out its competitors. From then on, GDE Bertoni became a reference in the sporting world.
In an interview published by the newspaper El País Shortly before his death, Gazzaniga explained that his design sought to “plastically represent the efforts of the athletes, with harmony, sobriety and peace”. “I was inspired by two images: sports and the world,” he said at the time. “Michelangelo said that making his David was easy because he had already seen him in the marble and only needed to trim the excess. I, who am certainly not as talented as him, followed the creative process.”
It's curious that Gazzaniga, even though he was the artist behind the biggest prize in world football, didn't like the sport, nor did he have a favorite team. The goldsmith is also the author of the trophy for the old Uefa Cup and the volleyball and baseball world championships, among others.
Giorgio Losa died in 2010, aged 60. Valentina, a graduate in advertising and who until then worked in a communications company, found herself needing to take over the family business. She was 30 years old. “I didn’t know anything. I was lucky to have an extremely trustworthy team of employees. For the first three years, I learned something new every day,” she says.
Gazzaniga still served as the company's artistic director. “Until 2011, he was still designing projects, although he was already working from home, due to his advanced age”, remembers Valentina. He used to say that, every time the cup returned for maintenance, it was like seeing a son coming home – and he welcomed it with a hug. The artist died in 2016, aged 95. His signature remains on the trophy that consecrated him.
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