Paravia

Description

Paravia was founded in Turin in 1802, when Giovanni Battista Paravia acquired a printing works and a library connected to it. Its activities focused on the publication of school books and pedagogical works, but it soon added to its portfolio publications such as dictionaries, essays, and works of fiction.
Paravia soon opened branches in Milan, Rome, Florence, and Neaples, and in 1920 it became a ""società anonima"" (a type of public limited company).
In the 1920s-1930s, the Publisher developed close ties with the Fascist regime. After the introduction of the 'libro unico di Stato' for primaru school in 1928, Paravia was selected as one of the publishers to distribute it (until 1936, when Mondadori was chosen as the only distributor).
In the 1940s, Paravia was one of the major Italian publishers, but its activities stopped in 1942 after its headquarters were destroyed during bombardments in Turin.
After the war, Paravia resumed its activities in the publishing of school textbooks, and in 1952, together with Mondadori and Principato, it became part of the new publisher Casa Editrice Testi Elementari Milano.
In 2000 Paravia merged with Bruno Mondadori, thus creating the Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori (PBE) group. In 2006, PBE was acquired by the London-based Pearson group, and in 2022 by the Finnish group Sanoma.