Le Iconiche by Romano Vincenzo

A Shortlist at the Vinitaly Design Awards. Four collector bottles. One clear statement about what olive oil packaging can be.

ATIU is shortlisted at the Vinitaly Design Awards 2026 with Le Iconiche — a collection of four olive oil bottles produced for Romano Vincenzo, a Sicilian estate that has decided to make design a defining part of its identity.

The project is the work of designer Giuseppe Lombardo. The brief was clear: translate the iconographic language of Sicily — its ancient imagery, its handmade traditions, its visual codes — into a bottle that functions as a collector's object. Something that stays on the table. Something worth keeping.

The design

Each bottle in the collection carries a different drawing by Lombardo. The illustrations are hand-drawn — lines, textures and figures that recall the imagery of Sicilian apothecary jars, votive objects and decorative ceramics. The references are unmistakable: a tradition of applied art that has defined the island's visual culture for centuries.

The four graphics are distinct, but they belong together. They form a series. A collector set designed to be completed.

The surface

Romano Vincenzo chose a matte opaque primer for the base — a surface that reads like an unglazed ceramic or a frosted glass. Against this ground, the hand-drawn illustrations reproduce with exceptional clarity. Lombardo's line weight, cross-hatching and tonal variation are all preserved at 1200 dpi. The detail that makes a hand-drawn illustration feel alive does not disappear in production.

The contrast between the matte body and the precision of the printed drawing is intentional. It creates the impression of a decorated artisanal object — without the constraints of artisanal production.

The logic behind the choice

Romano Vincenzo is building a brand with a long view. Investing in a strong iconographic identity is one part of that. Creating bottles that double as design objects is another. But the decision to use sublimation — rather than ceramic, painted glass or applied labels — is also a strategic one.

Digital sublimation scales. The same quality that makes a limited series of collector bottles extraordinary can be reproduced at volume — quickly, consistently, without compromise. As Romano Vincenzo grows, the decoration method grows with it. From a curated seasonal collection to a full market programme, the visual identity stays intact.

What the shortlist means

The Vinitaly Design Awards is the most relevant recognition in Italian wine and food packaging. Being shortlisted with a project for an olive oil estate — not a wine producer — is significant. It reflects a wider shift in the olive oil category: premium producers increasingly understand that the bottle is part of the product experience. The decision to purchase starts long before the first pour.

The award also recognises the collaboration between ATIU's decoration technology and Lombardo's design work. Shortlisting validates both: the quality of the imagery and the fidelity with which it is transferred to glass.

About Romano Vincenzo

Romano Vincenzo is a Sicilian olive oil producer committed to quality, provenance and a design-forward brand identity. Le Iconiche is its most ambitious packaging project to date — four collector bottles that carry Sicilian iconography as a signature, not as decoration.

About Giuseppe Lombardo

Giuseppe Lombardo is a Sicilian designer whose illustration work draws on the island's visual and material traditions. For Le Iconiche, he developed four hand-drawn compositions that translate Sicily's iconographic heritage into a contemporary collector object.