The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in Ivrea, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter, Today the company’s head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much larger than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.

By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13, 000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.