The death of Mario Lozza

Mario Lozza, one of the most important figures in the historical family that founded the eyewear industry in Belluno, died yesterday at 1.30 p.m., at the age of 70.

Not only was he the President of Anfao (from 1969 to 1972), Mario Lozza was also vice-president of Sipao (Sezione Industrie Produttrici Articoli per l'Occhialeria di Assindustria Belluno), and one of the founders of Mido at the beginning of the Seventies.

The name of Lozza is inseparably linked to the birth of the eyewear industry in Cadore. Together with Angelo and Leone Frescura, in 1878 Giovanni Lozza founded the first rudimental eyewear facility on the banks of the Molinà, but it had to be abandoned in 1886 because of serious problems after the death of Angelo Frescura. Many years later, Lucio, Giovanni's son (and Mario's father), decided to start up his father's business again together with his brothers, Giuseppe and Giovanni, and they rebuilt the small workshop; in 1919 he again began to manufacture celluloid eyewear, having realized that this was a profitable and much sought-after article.

Lucio's son, Mario, carried on the business and gave production a decisive turn: not only was he one of the first to make 'color injection molded' frames, he also created Lozza's legendary Zylo Sport, launched by Fausto Coppi in 1949 at the Giro d'Italia, which became a status symbol for subsequent generations of young people.

In the 1980s Mario moved to America to establish Opti Fashion, and once again he was among the first to believe in the American market and in the union between fashion and eyewear.

'With the death of Mario Lozza, we have lost one of the most important personalities in world eyewear', commented Cirillo Marcolin, president of Anfao and Mido. 'Behind a rough exterior there lay a man of considerable compassion, who was part of a family that was the first to assert the creativity and characteristic qualities of today's highly praised 'Made in Italy'. He is someone the entire sector will never forget'.