The Brescia-based Lumezzane is universally recognized as the industrial district boasting the highest success rate among operators for the processing of metal alloys, so much so that it even earned a cover on the weekly “The Economist.”

Exemplary in this trend of entrepreneurial success is the Gnutti family, which through HUG Holding Umberto Gnutti S.p.A. fully controls Brawo S.p.A. The industrial birth of the family dates back to 1860 when Giacomo Gnutti, the great-grandfather of the current President and majority shareholder of HUG, Mr. Giorgio Gnutti, lit his own gunsmith forge in Lumezzane.

The activity was subsequently developed and converted by Umberto Gnutti who, in 1966, along with his sons, took over the joint-stock company Almag, a company founded in 1946 and specialized in the hot forging of copper, brass, and aluminum alloys.

Given the considerable amount of scrap circulating at the time, Almag S.p.A.’s production was partially diversified into transforming scrap into brass bars, becoming today, in size, the second largest drawing mill in Italy and third in Europe.

In 1976, Mr. Giorgio Gnutti decided to acquire Brawo S.p.A. (operating until 1989 under the business name “Metalstampati Bonomi”) and transfer all the hot stamping activities to it, until then carried out in Almag S.p.A.

The decision proved to be a winner as, in a short time, under his leadership and from the mid-90s also under the guidance of his son Gabriele Gnutti, Brawo S.p.A. became what it is today, a world reference in the supply of raw and processed parts in brass, copper, and aluminum.

In the path of industrial development of Brawo S.p.A., many initiatives that have allowed the creation of a highly synergistic and geographically diverse industrial group capable of operating in complete production autonomy are also noteworthy, which includes, in addition to Brawo S.p.A., Brawo Brassworking Ltd (operating under the name of Lofthouse) in Canada, Brawo Usa Inc. in the United States, and Emmebi S.r.l. in Italy.

Together, these companies constitute, within the HUG galaxy, the BRAWO constellation.