Every September 30, Chewing Gum Day celebrates one of the most recognizable products of American popular culture. In Italy, however, this year’s celebration has an additional meaning: Brooklyn, the country’s first fully made-in-Italy chewing gum, is turning 70.
Its story is also a fascinating chapter in the long cultural exchange between Italy and the United States.
Chewing gum became widely familiar to Italians during and immediately after World War II, when American troops brought it with them as part of their everyday military supplies. The association was so strong that generations of Italians simply called chewing gum “gomma americana” – American gum.
Italian entrepreneurs soon transformed that American habit into a domestic success story. In 1946, brothers Ambrogio and Egidio Perfetti founded Dolcificio Lombardo in Lainate, near Milan. Ten years later, in 1956, they introduced Brooklyn, the first chewing gum entirely produced in Italy.
The name was anything but accidental. Brooklyn evoked New York, modernity and the optimism associated with postwar America. Its packaging featured the Brooklyn Bridge, while the unforgettable advertising slogan “Brooklyn, la gomma del ponte” – Brooklyn, the bridge gum – became part of Italian popular culture.
Seven decades later, that connection remains remarkably strong. Brooklyn celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2026, while Perfetti Van Melle marks 80 years since the company’s Italian beginnings. Today, the group has about 1,300 employees in Italy, and its products are distributed through approximately 160,000 Italian retail outlets.
Chewing Gum Day itself reflects the same transatlantic journey. Launched in the United States in 2006, the celebration arrived in Italy in 2023. For its fourth Italian edition, events traveled through Naples, Rome and Milan.
From American soldiers sharing chewing gum with Italians to an Italian company naming its most famous gum after a New York borough, Brooklyn is a small but enduring symbol of 80 years of everyday connections between Italy and America.
