ZUCCARI

ZUCCARI is an Italian company based in Trento, in the Trentino region on the edge of the Dolomites, that makes Aloe vera-based skincare, body care and dietary supplements. It was founded in 1993 by Stefano Sala, who started it with his wife Katja after long conversations with his parents [2][6]. The company's name is a softened version of his mother's surname, and its identity rests largely on a single plant: ZUCCARI presents itself as an Aloe vera specialist, and its best-known range, [aloevera]2, grew out of a production method it introduced in 2001.

The brand is sold mainly through pharmacies, herbalists and parapharmacies, and it reports a presence in 34 countries across five continents. Alongside cosmetics and supplements, it publishes books on well-being, which it treats as part of the same mission. The company is active and continues to trade under the ZUCCARI name from its Trento headquarters.

According to the company's own account, the idea for ZUCCARI came from a couple. Stefano and his wife Katja are described as having explored the world while studying together "with a critical mind", sharing values and goals. In discussions with Stefano's parents, Maria Pia Zuccatti and Giorgio Sala, they decided to set up a business devoted to well-being, one that would help people adopt what the brand calls an aware lifestyle "in which everything is in equilibrium".

The company's about page marks 1993 as the year of its birth, and it frames that start in unusually personal terms. Rather than say the business was built or founded, it writes simply that "ZUCCARI was born". An independent account published in 2024 by IFTS UPT, a vocational school in Trento, gives the same year and place and names Stefano Sala as the founder [6]. Katja's surname does not appear on the company's pages.

The name itself is a family tribute. Stefano Sala's mother's surname is Zuccatti; the company says it was "refined with an R" to sound softer and to echo zucchero, the Italian word for sugar, turning it into a tribute to "Zuccatti and her 'cari'", meaning her loved ones [5]. The brand notes that the name is pronounced with the stress on the "u".

ZUCCARI's history, as the company tells it, is closely tied to Aloe vera. The turning point came in 2001, when it introduced what it calls an exclusive production protocol for the plant [3]. The method yielded an Aloe vera gel and juice that were not pasteurised, which the company says preserves the plant's biological activity, and that were then concentrated twice over using a process it calls ReversOsmose, a reverse-osmosis technique carried out without heat.

That process gave rise to the [aloevera]2 line, which the company markets as "twice as concentrated, twice as effective". The line was later extended with dietary supplements and dermocosmetics, meaning skincare of the kind usually sold in pharmacies, aimed at what the company describes as both ordinary and extraordinary needs.

The company describes its development since then as steady. Under the motto "There is no innovation without emulation", it says it has built "a solid company that has continued to grow" year after year, and it admits that some of its positions were "bold and disruptive" at the time. No changes of name or acquisitions are known in its history.

ZUCCARI trades as ZUCCARI s.r.l., an Italian limited-liability company registered in Trento, with offices on Via del Commercio; in Switzerland its products are distributed by Salerba Sagl, a company based in Bellinzona [4]. The company's international website identifies it as a single-shareholder company (società a socio unico) but does not name the shareholder [5]. There is no public indication that ZUCCARI belongs to a larger group.

ZUCCARI roots its identity in its home region. The company says it does not merely have a connection with Trentino but "is the territory", and it describes itself as a spokesperson for what it calls mountain values: patience, the habit of looking up at the peaks, and the urge to climb to the summit to see what lies beyond. Herbal knowledge handed down through generations is presented as part of this outlook.

Its approach to ingredients is framed as a rejection of fashion. According to the company, it chooses raw materials to meet concrete needs rather than to follow trends, and its research and development department studies each active ingredient to understand its most suitable uses. The brand speaks of every plant having "its own biological mission", and argues that gentle processing, which leaves a plant's qualities intact, makes it more effective.

A recurring theme is what the products leave out. ZUCCARI says it has given up added water entirely in its supplements and cosmetics, replacing it with Aloe vera juice or gel [3]. Its about page, written partly in the first person, explains the reasoning: water added simply to increase volume "has never convinced me", and alcohol in a product meant to detoxify "has always seemed a contradiction". The stated aim is "totally active formulas" rather than large packs of diluted ingredients.

The company also casts itself as an educator. It says its goal is to pass on to people a driving curiosity, and it regards books as the most effective way to spread knowledge and make each consumer "the best consultant in his or her own well-being". Its publications are listed alongside its product lines. The tagline on its Swiss website reads "Notre recherche au service de votre bien-être" ("Our research in the service of your well-being"), and the brand describes itself as standing for Italian excellence in supplements, cosmetics, education and holistic well-being. It presents its exports as "Made in Italy" applied to well-being and beauty.

Aloe vera sits at the centre of the range. The company highlights three lines in particular. Aloe Pur is an Aloe vera skincare line, presented as being "like a freshly picked leaf". Aloe Intim is a line for intimate hygiene, which the brand says combines nature with research. Bouleau, French for birch, is a line built around purification, drainage and regeneration, and belongs to the company's supplement offering.

The company singles out Olio del Re Pure Balsam Drops as one of its "most-loved products". Its account of the product's origin is personal: the about page describes a mountain climb during which the writer, short of breath, reflected on how such a simple action as breathing can become complicated, and imagined a product that could act as a guide for people. Olio del Re is presented as the answer that came later.

On research, ZUCCARI says that years of work often lead to clinical trials at "prestigious Italian universities" and to patented formulas, adding that patents guarantee the uniqueness of its branded products [5]. The company does not name the universities, trials or patents involved. No third-party certifications for the range are documented.

The production method behind [aloevera]2 is the part of its work the company describes in most detail. It sets out a sequence of steps that it contrasts with faster industrial methods.

The process starts with hand selection of the healthiest and fleshiest leaves, taken only from certified plantations. The company says no machine can judge which leaves are ripe, so each one is cut by hand at the base with a clean cut, to keep the inner fillet from contact with air and from oxidising. Leaves travel in batches of no more than one tonne to a processing centre that is usually close by, because production has to begin within three hours of harvesting.

The leaves are then washed by hand in a bath of specific salts, which the brand says reduces bacteria without chemical treatment, and are peeled by hand. ZUCCARI contrasts this with shredding whole leaves or crushing them between rollers. Those methods, it says, risk contaminating the inner gel with aloin, a bitter substance from the tough outer part of the leaf, and then require carbon filtration and pasteurisation. According to the company, its hand-filleted gel contains no aloin and carries a low bacterial load that can be managed with a modest amount of common preservatives [3].

To turn the gel into juice, ZUCCARI says it works strictly cold, rather than using enzymes that break down the gel or the high temperatures of pasteurisation. It argues that a clean, well-handled juice does not need to be pasteurised, and that heat puts the gel's polysaccharides, complex sugars that are sensitive to heat, at risk. The final step is the ReversOsmose concentration, which the company credits to its own research and commitment.

ZUCCARI is active. The company operates from its headquarters in Trento and states that its products are available in pharmacies, herbalists and parapharmacies in 34 countries on five continents [1]. The 2024 IFTS UPT report similarly describes distribution in more than 30 countries, through pharmacies and parapharmacies, herbalists, shops specialising in natural products and online channels [6].