Heritage Moranduzzo – Chicago 1959 – Magnificent Mile
How Italian Christmas Lights Arrived on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
December 1959: Chicago’s Magnificent Mile is lit for the first time with “Italian White Lights.” The supplier: Moranduzzo, Florence. The proof: four pages of the Chicago Tribune with a handwritten note.
There is a pencilled note on an original Chicago Tribune Magazine clipping kept in the Moranduzzo archive. Three words, “Moranduzzo the supplier.” Three words that connect a Florentine factory to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, to the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, and to the history of Christmas lights in the Western world.
The history of American Christmas lights has an Italian chapter that very few people know about. It is the story of George Silvestri, a trip to Italy, an illuminated fountain in Genoa, and an industrial collaboration that would change the look of Christmas celebrations in America forever. And it is, in part, the story of Moranduzzo.
George Silvestri and the fountain in Genoa
George Silvestri was an American entrepreneur from Chicago. On a trip to Italy he noticed something he had never seen: small miniature electric lights used to illuminate a public fountain in Genoa. Such precise and delicate lights, so different from the large lamps that were used in America for Christmas decorations.
Silvestri immediately understood the commercial potential. He returned to Italy, started collaborations with local manufacturers-including Moranduzzo, Florence-and brought those lights to the American market. The Silvestri Corporation still calls itself the “original innovator of Italian Mini Lights.”
“The first miniature Christmas lights were manufactured in Italy.”
December 1959: the storefronts of Saks Fifth Avenue on the Magnificent Mile.
In December 1959, for the first time, the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile were illuminated with miniature Italian lights. The Chicago Tribune Magazine documented the event with a lengthy article titled “Let there be Lights” -four original pages now preserved in the Moranduzzo archives.
The handwritten note: the first-class proof
On one of the original copies of the Chicago Tribune Magazine kept by the Moranduzzo family, there is a pencilled note. Three words, “Moranduzzo the supplier.” It is not a business document-it is direct testimony written by the family itself on the copy they kept on file. A first-class piece of evidence.
“Moranduzzo the supplier” – written in pen on the original copy of the Chicago Tribune Magazine kept by the family. The note directly links Moranduzzo to the story of the Italian lights on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in December 1959.
Documentary evidence is confirmed in 2023: George Silvestri’s grandson personally visited Moranduzzo, confirming historical supplies between the two companies. In 2026, the family of Silvestri’s son sent the four original clippings to the Moranduzzo archive.
The Tribune pages: what they say
Key quotes from the original article
- “The first miniature Christmas lights were manufactured in Italy” – primary source still cited by Wikipedia in the entry “Christmas lights”
- “George Silvestri brought the first few strings here in the 1950s” – the precise dating of the first American importation
- “He went back to Italy and started a few freelance basement operations there and improved the quality of the work. That’s how he got rolling” – returning to Italy and working with local producers including Moranduzzo
- “The lights were first made by inmates in a Milan prison and Silvestri was honored by the Italian government for stimulating that country’s trade” – Italian government recognition to Silvestri for exporting the lights
- “He called them his little jewels” – Silvestri’s words to describe Italian lights.
Chicago Tribune Magazine – “Let there be Lights” – 4 original pages with handwritten note “Moranduzzo the supplier.” Moranduzzo Archives.
Wikipedia EN – entry “Christmas lights”: “The first miniature Christmas lights were manufactured in Italy.”
Windy City Lights – windycitylights.com/about: “Silvestri Corporation: original innovator of Italian Mini Lights.”
The timeline: from Florence to Chicago
“My husband would have a fit”-Dorothy Silvestri, knowing that successors were having lights made in Taiwan instead of Italy. George’s “little jewels” were Italian. They were Moranduzzo’s.
DocItaly International Award 2025
Awarded to Matteo Moranduzzo on December 15, 2025 at Palazzo Valentini, Rome. ANDI – National Doc Association Italy, 10th edition. The motivation explicitly mentions “the international spirit” and “the entrepreneurial vision that have characterized the Moranduzzo family since the late 1800s.”
Frequently asked questions
From Florence to the world – always
The lights that illuminated Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in 1959 were born of the same obsession that today produces the Everest Fir chosen by Dior. Italian quality does not change. It changes the product.