A beautiful piece of advertising art for olive oil depicting a young African female slave presenting the pure Aceite Bresciano olive oil on a display. It is an image that takes us back 100 year ago, and bears witness to a colonial past. Look how detailed the tin of olive oil is rendered, while the drawing of the slave is very simplistic. Interesting fact to know is that the name Bresciano does not refer to the industrial city of Brescia, west of lake Garda in North Italy. The name belongs to it’s founder Cav. Pietro Bresciano who built the original oil mill and started the olive oil company back in 1799. Over the years Pietro’s olive oil business was carried on by successive generations : his son Nicolò, and his brothers Pietro and Santiago. Nicolò’s son Giuseppe was in charge of the Italian branch of the company, while his brother Pietro emigrated to Argentina, where he set up the import of the Italian olive oil and took care of the promotion. In the early 1900’s the Company moved 35km’s southwest to the coastvillage Imperia because of the commercial port and railroad. The company owned its own rail cars and an exchange office. The company was a partner in the “Rio,” “Italian oils refinery” and the Franco export storage company. The Aceite Bresciano brand got many awards over the decades in Italy and abroad. Giuseppe Bresciano, who had two daughters, closed the company’s doors in 1986 after a life dedicated to work. This sign has a truly magnificant history to tell. This is one of only 4 pieces known, it is restored.