Valtur is an Italian tourism and hospitality brand founded in 1964 by Raimondo Craveri, when the first Valtur village opened in Ostuni. The name is an acronym for “Valorizzazione Turistica.” [1] In 2025, the brand was officially certified as a Marchio Storico di Interesse Nazionale by the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, a recognition granted after documenting continuous use of the trademark for at least 50 years. [2]
Design and History
The original Valtur logo was created in 1969 by Swiss graphic designer Hazy Osterwalder (Hans-Ulrich Osterwalder) for Studio Boggeri in Milan. [3] Osterwalder, a student of Johannes Itten at the Zurich School of Applied Arts, worked as a graphic designer for advertising at Studio Boggeri before specializing in illustration around 1970. [4]
The original mark was a circular symbol composed of radiating lines of varying orientation, representing the contiguity and interaction between sun and sea. [5] After the 1970s, the logo underwent several modifications of varying rigor, which in 2000 crystallized into a second “official” version: the lines thinned out, leaving more white space between them, while the contours of the rays and waves were rounded at the extremities. [3]
In February 2017, after 17 years with the same logo, Valtur introduced a restyling developed by the Rome-based agency Yes I AM, which had won a competitive pitch for the new coordinated image. [6] The redesign kept the original format but made it more linear and clean, with blue confirmed as the reference color in brighter, lighter tones. [7] The new version maintained an airy spacing between rays and waves while restoring the sharp, angular contours of the original logo. The wordmark was radically changed: ligatures between letters were minimized and the symmetrical syllable separation, which had supported readability of the now-obsolete “Valorizzazione Turistica” acronym, was eliminated. [8] The restyling was accompanied by a new payoff, “Tutta un’altra vita.” [9]
In July 2018, the Nicolaus Group acquired the Valtur brand at auction for 5.2 million euros. [10] When the new website launched in January 2019, it featured a further restyling of the logo, described as “redesigned but with the same spirit of the past.” [11]
Meaning and Symbolism
The circular emblem of radiating lines was designed to represent the contiguity and interaction between the sun and the sea, core elements of the Valtur vacation experience. [3] In the 2017 restyling, the increased spacing between the waves was described by then-CEO Elena David as “almost like an embrace for all those who will come to visit us in our resorts.” [6]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
