Onorato Isacco

After the First World War, the Isacco brothers opened a small workshop in Turin’s Via Verrès, producing scientific toys, model aircraft and boats, steam engines and toy trains. The business also sold models imported from Germany, Britain and the United States. Its early wagons were made by hand from wood and sheet metal, with glass panes set into the windows.

The brothers later dissolved their partnership. In the 1930s, Onorato Isacco opened a shop on Corso Vittorio Emanuele near Porta Nuova station and continued issuing catalogues of specialist toys and models. After Onorato’s death in 1976, his daughter Piera and nephew Oliviero Rota continued the business, with greater emphasis on railway modelling and models made in Japan. Umberto Pesce took over in 1984, retaining the established shop name. The business marked its centenary in 2020 with a limited edition of railway wagons made in collaboration with ACME.