Dondi: the long history of an "Umbrian" company

During the Agriumbria exhibition, the agricultural equipment manufacturer celebrated 50 years of business operations at its Ospedalicchio site in Bastia Umbra, its beginnings in Mirandola (Modena), its first successful innovations, and its move to Umbria

Dondi has a long history that connects Emilia and Umbria, that of producing agricultural machinery for a wide variety of applications for the last 176 years. Founded in 1850 in Mirandola (Modena), since 1991 its home has been in Ospedalicchio di Bastia Umbria (Perugia). The company began making wooden plows and, over the course of nearly two centuries, moved on to iron plows and hoes, coming finally – in the mid-1960s – to the design and perfection of what proved to be its essential machine: the rotary ditcher. Dondi has exported its equipment to over 50 countries on every continent. In the late 1970s, the company became a joint-stock company and, after moving to central Italy, began producing ditchers alongside a range of products for open-field soil cultivation. At the same time, the company also expanded its range of roadside machinery, developing articulated arms combined with ditch diggers and other tools for maintaining gutters and drainage ditches and for mowing grass along roads. In the first decade of the 2000s, the Grm60-Spider made its debut, an innovative mower that significantly opened up the US market for Dondi. The year 2019 saw the introduction of a new line of equipment for vineyard and orchard work, offering a range capable of efficiently mechanizing both inter-row and under-canopy work. Against this backdrop of growth, Dondi celebrated 50 years of production by the Pettirossi family at Agriumbria 2026 in Ospedalicchio di Bastia Umbra. This journey began in 1976 with the founding of OMMA and continued in 1991 with the acquisition of the Dondi company and its brand. The company wanted to share this significant milestone in its history with customers, partners, and visitors to Agriumbria, reaffirming its mission, encapsulated in the slogan "Together for the Earth". This claim expresses a precise direction linked to an idea of ecosystemic production that distances itself from exhaustive extractive models. Taking this approach, the company says, reduces stress on plants and workers leading to a more advanced and efficient way of understanding agricultural work. During the Perugia exhibition, the manufacturer emphasized the importance of rotary ditchers and subsoilers, emphasizing the growing importance of equipment dedicated to vineyards, olive groves, and orchards. During the celebration, plaques were awarded to Lamberto Pettirossi, Antonio Pettirossi, Sauro Tamburini, and Fausto Lucchetti, senior figures who have contributed significantly to the company's growth, continuity, and identity. It was Dondi's desire to use this anniversary as an occasion to appreciate the path it has built over time and to the vision that continues to guide its development, alongside those who work the land, with solutions designed to accompany an agriculture in constant evolution.