“Ventura Giocattoli: When Play Becomes Culture” — By Gigi Soldano

Founded in 1936 in Treviso by Angelo Ventura, the company (VZT, then VAP) grew from a small artisan
workshop to a leading industrial player in postwar Italy.

Relocating to Torno, on the shores of Lake Como, in 1951, Ventura Giocattoli invented, experimented, and produced objects that sparked the dreams of generations of children: wire-controlled cars, toy washing machines, mechanical football tables, and wooden and metal nautical toys became symbols of a reborn Italy.

As well as innovation, Ventura was also a company founded on the values of family, collaborative work, and social responsibility. Having closed down in 1983, its legacy lives on in its toys, now considered true works of art and collectibles.

World War II had just ended, and economic recovery was coming around vigorously. Angelo Ventura, alert to the
opportunities of the moment, created a new sales force with the support of agents covering the entire country.

The real turning point, however, came soon after, thanks to a series of opportunities that allowed him to conquer
foreign markets, more specifically the American one.

His friendship with Giulio Linetti, a well-known Venetian industrialist and leader in the perfume market for his famous hair gel, opened the doors for him to a high clientele. He enjoyed the opportunity to display his toys in the windows of the luxurious “Linetti shop” on the Venice Lido, near the prestigious location of the International Film Festival.

For the company, called VAP at the time, this represented a unique, exclusive, and good opportunity to make a name for themselves. A showcase that, thanks to the interest of famous Hollywood actors and directors of the time, as well as film industry figures and countless foreign tourists, provided a series of international business opportunities, particularly in the United States.

Attention to product quality and customer satisfaction have always distinguished Angelo Ventura’s business, from the moment wholesalers and representatives first arrived at the company to finalize orders for his toys.

Ventura oversaw all stages of preparation not only of the toys, but also of their wooden transport crates, thanks to the skill of specialized carpenters. If these crates were exported abroad and transported by ship, it was essential to ensure they were insulated from humidity. This was achieved by gluing thick tar paper inside them. The shipments, initially by rail or courier, were then destined for the port of Genoa, where they were loaded onto cargo ships bound for the port of New York.

The most prestigious naval toys exported to the United States by Ventura were the magnificent ocean liners such as the United States, the Rex and the America, the aircraft carrier Forrestal, the cruiser Los Angeles, and countless models of Cutter sailing boats.

These covered a wide range of sizes: from medium-sized, typical of toys for small bodies of water, to majestic, with masts reaching up to a meter in height, following the model boats that were also popular in Great Britain in the 1930s. Their main feature was the wide centerboard, which ensured stability during navigation. The boats were tested in the water in two phases.

The first phase, once the hull was built and the center of gravity identified to check the buoyancy, and the second, when the deck was sealed to evaluate the watertightness of the toy. At the Preganziol factory (Treviso), this took place in an artificial lake, designed, and built specifically for the purpose, in the villa on the Via Terraglio purchased by
Ventura (1941), along the Napoleonic Road of the same name that leads to Venice.

At the new facility in Torno (1951), however, testing was more demanding because it was conducted in the waters of a wooded inlet of Lake Como, overlooking the sixteenth-century Villa Pliniana, where Angelo Ventura and his son Dario, in their rowboat, tested the nautical toys. Sometimes, having gained too much speed, they would drift away, forcing them to have to go and retrieve them by rowing in pursuit.

United States Ocean Liner

Built for United States Lines, inspired by the British ships Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth and therefore easily convertible for troop transport, the United States ocean liner weighed just over 53,000 GRT and could carry up to 1,900 passengers.

Having entered into service in 1952, from 3rd to 7th of July of that year, it completed the 2,942 nautical mile (5,449 km) Atlantic crossing in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes, at an average speed of 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h), earning the Blue Riband, the unofficial award given to the passenger ship that held the average speed record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular commercial service and without any stopovers. The record remains unbeaten today.

In Ventura’s toy ship, inside the hull, a small battery-powered motor powers the propellers, which can also be operated in reverse. Furthermore, a mechanical device, during the 360° rotation, also activates the forward and aft navigation lights, which turn on intermittently every 90°, along with the foghorn activated by a small electromagnet.

REX Ocean Liner: “The last palace ship”

The ocean liner Rex was built for the Italia Flotte Riunite shipping company at the Ansaldo shipyards in Genoa-Sestri Ponente and launched in 1931.

With a gross tonnage of over 51,000 GRT, it represented one of the pinnacles of nautical technology of the time, boasting an extremely high level of quality in terms of technology and interior design, earning it the nickname “the last palace ship.” On 10th August 1933, on her maiden voyage, she won the Blue Riband (trophy for the fastest Atlantic crossing), a title she held until 1935. She sailed the oceans from 1933 to 1940 and was sunk in Trieste by an air raid in 1944.

The “TipoREX” Ventura toy ocean liner, with its hull and superstructure entirely made of carefully hand-modeled and finely lacquered wood, was introduced to the public in the end of 1930s.

The “Extra-luxury” version featured a shaft with an aluminum propeller, initially powered by a steam engine (lasting about 30 minutes); later, it was spring powered.

SS AMERICA Ocean liner

In the mid-1950s, to be more competitive on the market, Ventura began producing its first toys using the “thermoforming” method of plastic materials (an innovative technology for the time), reducing processing times and material costs.

The most used plastic for toys is almost always PP (polypropylene), which is advantageous primarily for its chromatic qualities, as it avoids the costly process of painting the newly molded product.

The model, produced at Torno in the late 1970s, is based on the real-life ocean liner SS America, launched in 1940, which tragically sank in 1994 (due to a terrible storm) off Fuerteventura, bound for Thailand, where it was intended to become a luxury floating hotel.

The Supercarrier FORRESTAL (CV-59)

The first unit of the Forrestal class, consisting of four vessels (the other three were the Saratoga CV-60, the Ranger CV-61, and the Independence CV-62).

The Forrestal class’s gross tonnage of 80,000 tons fully loaded and the ability to carry up to ninety aircraft made it a turning point in the evolution of aircraft carriers. For this reason, they earned the nickname “Supercarrier.” The Ventura model features many different types of aircraft. Those in the aft section, with their additional wing tanks, are reminiscent of the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star in the navy TO-1 version. Immediately forward are three North American FJ-4 Fury aircraft, a navy version of the F-86 Sabre.

The aircraft in the central section are strongly reminiscent of the B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers, which were obviously never produced in a navy version. Likewise, the three North American F-100 Super Sabres in the forward section, which never operated on aircraft carriers.

Cruiser Los ANGELES

A Baltimore-class heavy cruiser of fourteen units (CA-69 to CA-75 and CA-130 to CA-136), Los Angeles (CA-135) was the penultimate to be commissioned on 22nd July 1945 and served as flagship of the Seventh Fleet’s cruiser division. When not deployed in the Western Pacific, USS Los Angeles (CA-135) operated from Long Beach along the West Coast and into the Pacific as far as Hawaii. She returned to Long Beach from her final Far East deployment on 20th June 1963. USS Los Angeles (CA-135) was decommissioned at Long Beach on 15th November 1963, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego, where she remained until 1969. She was finally decommissioned in 1974.

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