The history of our first 70 years reminds us of who we are:
energy and vitality, science and innovation, sports and health, positive nutrition and sustainability.
Drawing from the strength of this identity, we have always approached the world and the future with expertise, passion and respect, with the objective of helping people improve the quality of their lives.

Years

1954

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Starting out as Also Laboratori

Paolo Sorbini, a pharmacist and the father of Maurizia, Giuseppe (“Pino”) and Alberto – who today are, respectively, Director, Managing Director and President of Enervit – founded Also Laboratori in Milan at Via Vitruvio 39.
Short and to the point, the name Also was a playful combination of two family names: that of his best friend, Alberto, and his own.

1963

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Bringing phytotherapy to Italy

Sensing huge potential in the development of natural products, Paolo Sorbini reached out to two German companies that produced natural phytotherapeutic formulas, Ravensberg and Schwabe.
With this, Also began to import and distribute a number of these formulas. It was the first company in Italy to do so.

1972

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Coming out with TAC

At the Also laboratories, a “revolutionary” idea took shape.
This was in the turbulent period of the early 1970s and, in an Italy still unaware of its potential, Also decided to wager on dietary research. Introduced onto the market was a product that marked a turning point on the Italian stage:
TAC, an acronym for terapia a-calorica (acaloric treatment), the first low-calorie sweetener.

1973

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Inaugurating the first production plant
Clocking up the kilometers in the "Giro"

Two important events went down in this year’s history. In a location of extraordinary naturalistic value - but also one of great emotional value for the Sorbini family - the first production plant (still today Enervit’s beating heart) was inaugurated in Zelbio, in Pian del Tivano, a few kilometers from Lake Como.
But 1973 was also the year in which a collaboration was formed between Enervit and the Giro d’Italia, one that would last thirty years and would translate into thirty editions, over 100,000 kilometers and 10,000 laboratory tests conducted before, during and after the races through its modern mobile laboratory, the famous "Giroclinica". This fully equipped medical and dietary assistance center was there for the competitors as they gave it their all during the three-week race.

1974

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Creating the Enervit Brand

Twenty years after Also’s founding, a new brand emerged: Enervit, the perfect combination of energy and vitality. The aim was to come out with a line of products for those who practiced sports. This was quite a daring decision, given that it was developed at a time when nutrition was still considered uninfluential on physical performance.
The results were soon to arrive: early in the year, the first Enervit-branded product was launched on the market, authorized to be produced for sales purposes by the Italian Ministry of Health on October 30, 1973.

1976

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Introducing Equipe Enervit

A love for sports combined with a love for science drew around the fledgling brand a team of people with great expertise in nutrition and sports, researchers and scientists whom Pino Sorbini - inspired by the famous French daily sports paper L’Équipe - suggested calling “Equipe Enervit”.
Still today this precious team attracts doctors, scholars and technical specialists who work alongside champions, to continue to write new pages in the history of sports nutrition.

1982

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Finding a winning slogan in
“Strong and Lean”

From the company’s work with a number of athletes taking part in the 1980 Moscow Olympics came Enervit Protein, the first meal replacement designed for those wanting to lose weight. “Forti e magri” (“Strong and lean”) was its slogan, and being strong and lean was what those who purchased it were aiming for.
The motto became such a way of life that it inspired the Fabbri publishing group to use it as the title of an encyclopedia about health. This success coincided with record-breaking events: that of Sara Simeoni, the first woman in the world to clear 2.01 meters in the high jump, and Maurizio Damilano, gold medal winner in Moscow.

1983

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Taking part with Azzurra
in the America’s Cup

Enervit supported Azzurra, the first Italian yacht to participate in the America’s Cup, coming in third place. For this sporting endeavor, an innovative nutritional project was developed specifically for its crew.
This was a field of scientific application that until then had been given little consideration.

1984

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Crafting a true work of art:
Moser’s Hour Record

Thanks to the precious support of its “equipe”, Enervit took part in many champions’ endeavors.
In 1984 it saw a wonderful dream come true: organizing Francesco Moser’s hour record in Mexico City. Important innovations in the world of cycling were introduced for the occasion, new training methods, as well as the development of a cutting-edge heart rate monitor designed to conduct specific tests: the Testequipe. But that’s not all. Lenticular disk wheels were conceived to improve the aerodynamics of the champion’s custom-made bicycle, as were revolutionary nutrition strategies.
The result? Francesco Moser beat Eddy Merckx’s record and, with his 51.151 kilometers, going down forever in the sport’s history.

1985

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Making Italian soccer history alongside Juventus

From cycling to soccer: Enervit began to work with Juventus. The team’s physician, Francesco La Neve, entrusted Equipe Enervit’s dieticians to implement their latest scientific knowledge in the field of nutrition. They decided to adopt a personalized dietary strategy that improved the teammates’ physical performance during training.
The results were tangible: Juventus not only won the national championships but also brought home international victories, Champions Leagues and the Intercontinental Cup.

1986

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Following Reinhold Messner to incredible heights

With support from Enervit and its Equipe, Reinhold Messner finished scaling all fourteen of the world’s eight-thousanders, going down in the history of mountain-climbing for having been the first to climb them all, and without supplemental oxygen. Messner had developed a scientific understanding of the sport through his experience scaling the Himalayas: problems while climbing at extremely high altitudes without bottled oxygen, as well as muscle fatigue, and the replenishment of protein, water and salt. His ascent of the final peak in 1986, the Lhotse in Nepal, coincided with the completion of an important study by members of Equipe Enervit who were at the base camp.
But the challenges and research didn’t end there. Further studies focused on the supply of special foods and supplements as Messner successfully crossed Antarctica with the goal of reaching the South Pole in 1990. This successful endeavor was followed by the one in Greenland, which he crossed from east to west in 1993.

1990

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Braving the slopes with Alberto Tomba

With Equipe Enervit there by his side, Olympic champion Alberto Tomba made a comeback after undergoing a difficult period following his Olympic gold medals in 1988.
During the 1991-1992 season he marked up nine wins, including the gold in the giant slalom and the silver in the slalom at the Albertville Olympics. In 1995, twenty years after Gustav Thöni, he brought back to Italy the overall World Cup title, with eleven victories.

1995

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Returning to soccer with Milan

After Juventus, the Milan soccer team also turned to Equipe Enervit to improve its players’ performance.
The experience it had acquired with various sports was placed at the disposal of the team’s medical staff. The players were provided with detailed nutritional information, and with proper water and salt supplements during training and matches.
Victories, both in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, were soon to come.

1996

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Going to Tibet in search of long-lived populations

This was the year of the great journey, the one to Tibet to discover the botanical secrets of the longest-living populations who dwell at high altitudes, such as the Hunza, who are known for their exceptional health, which allows them to live to be over a hundred years old.

2000

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Bringing the Zone Diet to Europe

It was a new century and a new millennium, but Enervit’s strategy didn’t change: they had to explore new horizons and look toward the future. And so Enervit decided to meet with American biochemist Barry Sears, who was working on his innovative nutrition strategy known as the Zone diet.
From this meeting came EnerZona, the brand name used throughout Europe for the exclusive line of products perfectly balanced in their carbs, protein and fat. Alongside the Zone, this lifestyle embraces a steady intake of omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols, foods rich in extraordinary antioxidant properties.
Never before Enervit had anyone drawn the public’s attention to these topics, which over the years would prove to be of precious help to everyone’s wellbeing.

2008

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Going from the locker room to the Stock exchange

This was an important year for Enervit.
Not only did it change its name - becoming Enervit S.p.A. - but it also accomplished a financial feat: it was listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

2012

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Visiting Chile to study the maqui berry

The great journeys to discover the longest-living populations continued.
After Mauritius in 2002 - where the Enervit Research Center for the study of the extraction of policosanols from sugarcane was built - it was Chile’s turn. There, Enervit discovered the extraordinary antioxidant properties of a special berry capable of enduring extreme climates, the maqui, which became the feature of a new product based on the concentrated extract of this fruit.

2014

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Forging a partnership with Alex Zanardi
and crafting a work of art

This was the year in which an important partnership agreement was signed, the one with legendary champion Alex Zanardi.
The occasion was the most grueling competition in the triathlon, documented by the short film “A forza di braccia”: the IRONMAN® World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, where he finished 273rd out of over 2,000 competitors.
But Zanardi had his sights set on the 2016 Rio Paralympics, so he decided to intensify his relationship with Enervit and its Equipe. At almost age fifty the athlete became a legend, winning one silver and two gold medals.
That same year Enervit produced 50 X Rio: Alex Zanardi, a documentary that explored the extensive physical, mental and nutritional preparations Zanardi underwent the year of the Olympics. Another work of art, which in 2017 won the prestigious Premio TV del Moige award.

2015

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Opening a second production plant in Erba

After the one in Zelbio, Enervit inaugurated a second production plant, this one in Erba: an avant-garde, high-tech, automated, entirely gluten and palm oil free center dedicated to the production of functional bars.
This bold choice not only underlined the commitment being made to invest in the local territory, in contrast with the trend in delocalization, but at the same time proved to be a springboard toward a more international market.

2018

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Becoming Official Nutrition Partner of IRONMAN®

Introducing the company’s products and nutrition strategies to the athletes participating in the Ironman competitions throughout Europe: this was the goal Enervit accomplished in 2018.
This opportunity was made possible thanks to its partnership with IRONMAN, one of the world’s main endurance organizations.

2019

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Following major events and cheering on its champions

Where there are major events, there’s Enervit. This was also true in 2019: Vasaloppet, Maratona dles Dolomites, the Valencia Marathon, Nove Colli, IRONMAN®...
Meanwhile, Alex Zanardi was becoming an even more historic athlete. At the Paracycling Road World Championships in Emmen, in the Netherlands, he brought home two gold medals. It was mid-September and “l’uomo dei Record” (“Record Man”), as the press was calling him, wasn’t stopping: a week later, at the IRONMAN® in Cervia, in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, two victories awaited him, one after the other. The first day he set the world record in the paralympic triathlon, at 8h 25’ 30’’. The next day he competed in the 70.3 and completed this second endeavor.
Two IRONMAN® events in two days.

2020

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Returning to major cycling competitions
with two UCI World Tour teams

Despite the global standstill brought about by the pandemic, Enervit continued to support cycling as a sponsor, and it celebrated the victories of two great champions:
Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates, who won the Tour de France, and Lizzie Deignan of Trek-Segafredo, who triumphed in the fourth women’s edition of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

2021

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Looking toward the future
while remaining true to itself

For Enervit, the year began with the colors of gold: the AS Volley Lube brought home the Italian Cup; Federico Pellegrino won the Cross-Country World Cup in the sprint category; and Petra Vlhová clinched the Alpine Ski World Cup. On top of that, Virtus Segafredo Bologna won the Italian basketball championship, while Tadej Pogačar came out ahead in the Tour de France for the second consecutive year with UAE Team Emirates.
Enervit consolidated its commitment to positive nutrition, establishing itself as “The Positive Nutrition Company”.

2023

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Sustainable and successful:
outlook for a development model

With the publication of its first Sustainability Report, Enervit strove to build an innovative development model aimed not only at improving sustainability within its production chain but also at promoting responsible behavior on the environmental, economic and social fronts.
A new line of energy products was launched, one dedicated to athletes striving for top performance during endurance sports, C2:1PRO, while Enervit The Protein Deal protein bars won the Best Food Product Award 2023 in the Snack & Aperitivo category.
There were major successes also when it came to sports: Enervit continued to be Official Nutrition Partner of UAE Team Emirates and to support Tadej Pogačar, white jersey in the Tour de France, winner of the Giro di Lombardia and champion of the Tour of Flanders.

2024

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70 years of innovation and emotion

In 2024, Enervit is proud to announce its significant partnership with Jannik Sinner as the Official Nutrition Partner. The tennis player has been using Enervit products for years, making this a collaboration that began long ago and will become a “genuine and organic” partnership in 2024.
To mark its 70th anniversary, Enervit tells the story of who it is, the values it holds, what it believes in, and what it dreams of, through the publication of The Enervit Story. This photographic book, published by Mondadori Electa, retraces Enervit’s long-standing commitment to positive nutrition and sports dietary supplementation, and so much more.
The Enervit Story, enriched with numerous images, is an extraordinary monograph in which readers can immerse themselves, feel moved, and be carried away by the stories, faces, names, and achievements of those who have shaped and continue to shape the history of sports. It creates an emotional impact that is hard to resist, as it opens the door to wonder and surprise.

2025

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“Lo Sport nel Racconto - The Enervit Story”

“Lo Sport nel Racconto – The Enervit Story” is the original documentary presented by Sky Sport and Enervit: the company’s first 70 years told through a powerful story of innovation and emotion, as seen through the voices of the greatest sports champions, past and present. Among the featured athletes: Stefano Baldini, Davide Cassani, Miguel Indurain, Francesco Moser, Federico Pellegrino, Tadej Pogačar, Sara Simeoni, Jannik Sinner, and Valentina Vezzali. It premiered exclusively on Sky Sport at the beginning of 2025 and is now available On Demand.