As a beauty brand, Saponificio Varesino has been providing an artisanal product manufactured the same way it was done hundreds of years ago. Further enhanced by the details typical of the handmade process, it also combines the benefits of ancient and rare organic ingredients discovered in plants in unique areas of Italy. Antonio Pavan, founder of Brand to Markets and exclusive distributor of Saponificio Varesino lets us in on the brand’s origins, innovations, and expertise.
How was the company originally established?
During War World II, even basic products like soap were very hard to find. Bardelli Dante, the founder of Saponificio Varesino, while on the front line mastered the way to make soaps from the available natural ingredients for all his brothers in arms. Upon his return from service in 1945, he decided to study the chemical principles that govern saponification, and together with his wife, he began to produce soaps still using the traditional way.
Why do you think it’s lasted so long and stayed in the family?
The company strongly believes in family values and for that reason, all three generations are still involved in the business. For the founders, it is still crucial that the message of artisanship and family go hand in hand and they believe this is the reason why they have been so successful until now.
Saponificio Varesino (courtesy)
Tell us about the Marseilles method for the saponification of oils. Why that particular method?
The original Marseilles process to make the soaps would use Mediterranean seawater with olive oil and plant extracts together in a large cauldron and heated for 10 days at 100 °C. This mixture is then stirred constantly for several days and left to settle until it becomes solid. The paste is then triple-milled in steel drums to remove moisture and poured into a mold and left to set for up to a month to further dry out. The final product is a high-quality product that not only cleans the skin but lasts way longer than any other soaps because it contains less water and guarantees a very gentle and soothing treatment for the skin, which becomes soft and more elastic, even after many uses. Today at Saponificio Varesino, we still produce our soaps using the same artisanal method. Formulated with quality, purity, and integrity, we pride ourselves on using premium organic active ingredients and whole plant oils from sustainable products, without the use of mineral oils, parabens, or aggressive ingredients. Because of the highly specialized manual skills required and the lengthy production process, most of the companies nowadays have abandoned this method. Saponificio Varesino has embraced it and put it at the foundation of our philosophy in order to deliver outstanding quality and traditional products to improve the life of our client 
Are you launching anything new?
In light of the current events like COVID that are affecting the entire world, we have put our entire research and development team to work and developed a new line of antibacterial products based entirely on unique and proven botanical extracts. Our secret formula combines the most powerful antibacterial and antiviral botanical extracts found in nature with the deep cleansing properties of our soaps to create the ultimate Botanical Defense line. We are also planning to launch a line of bath and body salts. The salts have been secretly found in the depths of the island of Sicily and bought to light from a pristine cave that secured this precious material for 6 million years.
Why do you continue to hand label and wrap your products in Italy?
We want to preserve the same process and attention to details our ancestors originally focused on that made the company successful. In a world of standardization and uniformity, we believe our clients seek and appreciate the uniqueness and artisanal aspect of our products from production to packaging.
What are some of the ingredients in your products that can only be found in Italy?
For centuries, the population of Sardinia has been using the mirto plant for many curative purposes. The extracts oils from the maceration of the berries and leaves have proven toning and dermatological purifying properties. In the aromatic fern soaps, we use the extracts oils of a unique fern growing only in a microclimate area of the Dolomites with the amazing power to balance your skin PH. There’s also the sap of the manna tree that has grown wild for many centuries in the dried and sun-kissed island of Sicily. The manna is broken up into sticks to be processed and the oils extracted. In an extremely small and hardly accessible zone in the Italian Alps, we found a microclimate similar to the Arctic tundra of Lapland, Siberia, and Greenland. From the lichens growing here, we extracted the active ingredients that make this soap perfect for sensitive skin.
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