Lattes & C. Editori was founded by Simone Lattes in Turin in 1893. In 1910, the company began publishing school textbooks. Simone was followed by his son Ernesto as director, and later by his nephew Mario.
The publisher played a major role in the 1960s, at the time of school reform in Italy. In 1963 the new “scuola media unificata” was introduced, which meant that lower secondary school became compulsory and free for all students. In those years, the company strived to publish textbooks that could meet teachers’ needs, also considering the introduction of new subjects in the school curriculum such as educazione tecnica (technical education), educazione artistica (visual arts education), and educazione musicale (music education). The publisher closely followed the changes in the school curriculum prompted by the reform, and between 1973 and 1977 it issued “Notizie Lattes”, a biannual publication targeting teachers with updates in school laws, including information about new norms for pursuing their career at school.
