Egidio Cressi

Genova 1902 - 1986

Before the beginning of the Second World War, Egidio Cressi tried out the first tools used for underwater hunting together with Marcante and Gonzatti. He started to handcraft these after his normal working hours. In complete conflict with his bank, who suggested that he should transfer to another location, Cressi refused as he would have lost all contact with the sea and with his group of friends and client divers. He resigned and set up the company Cressi. Underwater activities were at their very beginning. They were pioneering and practiced enthusiastically with no knowledge of the fundamental physics and physiology principles. In 1947, Marcante introduced him to Luigi Ferraro who, thanks to his experience, to the knowledge he acquired as diver working for the Navy and thanks to his skills as an inventor, was employed to work for the emerging company. Ferraro significantly helped the company to make a qualitative leap, which soon later was substantiated by the creation of the Rondine fins and of the Pinocchio mask.
As well as being one of the pioneers of underwater activities, he was also the perfect example of an entrepreneur, because of the risks he was able to take when he only had his convictions to rely on.