In the aftermath of unification, in Italy there was an extraordinary development of book production and a real explosion in the periodical press, made possible by the parallel development of the printing industry. The privileged center was Lombardy and Milan in particular. This development trend also characterized the typographic- editorial sector of the city of Varese and its surrounding territory, with a significant record in the magazine’s proposal, a symbol of civilization, a means for cultural growth and for the construction of a collective conscience. On the basis of the data provided by the institutional sources together with the testimonies identified in the newspapers of the time, the present essay therefore intends to give an account of the main productive realities linked to the printed paper industry, observing its peculiarities and alternate events, up to the first decades of the XX century; and thus advancing, in an attempt to define the figure of the printer and publisher of Varese, often the protagonist for his skills in the editorial dynamics of Milan.
Keywords: Varese, typographic workers, press, Paolo Andrea Molina, Andrea Ubicini, Eugenio Galli, Macchi e Brusa, Giuseppe Ferri, Maj e Malnati, Tipografia Cooperativa Varesina.