Longoni Cues Official Website

 

Longoni is the most famous Italian name in the world of billiards; for over 75 years the Longoni family has been creating, producing and marketing items for this sport all over the world.
In particular, the Longoni billiard cues, today, still designed and produced in Mariano Comense, near Milan, are used by the greatest champions in the world, for their precision and reliability.
Care for the environment, worker safety and a typically Italian approach to business management have always given the brand reliability and prestige.

 For more information: www.longonigroup.com

The history of the Longoni brand began in 1945 when, after the Second World War, Alessandro Longoni decided to open his own workshop for the production and repair of cues and billiard tables.
Alessandro was trained at ""F.Lli Della Chiesa"", a historic company in Milan, which had been producing and selling billiards and kits throughout Europe since 1750. Following the war and the heavy bombing of Milan, they had to lay off their staff and eventually shut down.
Thanks to his experience gained, with the help of their sons Emilio, Vittorio and Renzo and his wife Maria, in just a few years they managed to create their own clientele and subsequent demand for tables and cues.
Mariano Comense, Alessandro's hometown, together with several neighbouring towns (Cantù, Meda and Cabiate) was already famous in Italy and Europe for woodworking and other works of art: therefore this was the ideal environment to grow the company.
In the beginning, they had no equipment so everything had to be done by hand or by bringing the parts to be processed to laboratories that offered machinery by the hour.

The 60s represent the beginning of the economic boom in Italy.
The Longoni brand also benefits from this significant period. Renzo Longoni establishes himself as a technician specializing in the production of billiard tables, especially in the cues sector. In 1960 he marries Francesca Luzzi who would go on to become the managerial soul of the company, helping it to develop in foreign markets, mainly in Europe and consequently in the United States.
In this decade, machinery and technologies are acquired by major names such as Vaula and Pagliani & Provenzale, which would act as a driving force for the larger-scale production of Longoni cues. The first department head and technician also comes from Vaula: Marco Tessaro, a native of Varazze; an experienced technician who built cues in Turin for various companies.
In billiards, in the sixties, the detachable two-piece cues begin to become popular in Italy.
Strengthened by the experience gained with the ""Fraschetta"" and ""Arlecchino"" cues, in 1965 Renzo Longoni developed and filed the patent for the first stratified wooden shaft, later known as ""Stratos"".
In these years, the wooden joint by Longoni is presented, for the new two-piece cues, a successor to the wooden joint used by the French brand, Jolie.
Thanks to the experience gained in the family business and collaborations with various companies in the area, Renzo Longoni soon becomes an established woodworker and goes on to work with exotic and national wood with great skill.

In the 70s, having consolidated the techniques acquired from other brands, along with his passion, Renzo Longoni begins to develop more two-piece cues and innovative technologies with aluminium, from which came the famous LEM model, and the first cues with variable weights.
The two-piece cues become a coveted object and every player aspires to have their own. In this period, Renzo Longoni develops techniques that would become standard decades later such as the Vibraless system and the construction technique of laminated shafts.
The first collaborations start with well-known players of the time such as Salvatore Centorami, who become ambassadors of the Longoni cues, as well as providing important know-how on technical play.
In 1971 Maria Luisa Longoni, the eldest daughter of Renzo and Francesca, is born, and in 1976 their son Pierluigi, both of whom are now employed in the family business.
Also in 1976, Francesca Luzzi founds the Longoni family commercial company: Norditalia Ricambi sr.l. (www.norditalia.it), simultaneously ending the production of Longoni tables for bars and competitions.
During these years, the European markets begin to grow considerably and, as a result, so does the demand for quality cues.

With the new millennium, horizons and objectives change: the brand is now well established in Europe and America and the doors of Asia open.

In this period, Pierluigi Longoni’s role is mainly dedicated to the improvement of internal procedures, the establishment of new commercial and sports partnerships and the planning of the company's technological apparatus, assisted by his father and by highly-experienced internal company professionals.
Collaborations with high-level players increase. Numerous players join the Longoni team such as Niels Feijen, Eddy Merckx, Semih Sayginer, Filippos Kasidostas and many others, bringing various world titles.
Longoni begins a long-lived and successful series of tournaments dedicated to pool called ""The Longoni Cup"", the first of which was played in 2000 in Bologna at the Civaturs club.
The removal of the old production lines continues, in particular, those dedicated to whole cues, to focus on the two-piece, elevating technique and design.

Always at the forefront, in Europe, in 2000, the first numerically controlled vertical turning machine for butts and shafts is installed: until then, machines which copied hand-made shapes, had been used. The range of shafts begins to expand and the quality standards are consolidated.

A second CNC machine is installed to increase the production capacity and improve the production of cues with inlays.
The production of the stratified shafts of the Stratos range is restored thanks to the new specifically developed machinery and the matured innovations. The S2 shaft is born, a successor to the historic Stratos, developed in the mid-sixties, with a new technical guise.
In 2005 an innovative numerical control lathe is installed for the production of the famous wooden joints for shafts and butts: which, until then, had only been created with hand tools.

An innovative laser-cut pantograph is included in the production cycle to create inlays with details never achieved before.
Over these years, Pierluigi Longoni first-handedly develops the first high-precision, quick-fit joint: the Viper for the world of 5 pins and then the VP2 originally created for the Russian Pyramid.

The Vp2 then became the most versatile and innovative joint in the Longoni range, with tens of thousands of them being produced and installed on all the cues of the various disciplines: in very light titanium for carom and in AISI 303 stainless steel for pool, Russian pyramid and 5 skittles. To optimize weights and balancing, two types of sockets are also developed: brass for pool and 5 pins and aluminium alloy for carom.
In 2008 Longoni introduced the first laminated shaft with two types of wood: the S3, consisting of 5 maple wedges and 5 hornbeam wedges.
From 2007, Korea starts to become a key market in Asia for the Longoni brand: thanks to the collaboration with the Kimchi company, numerous limited ranges are developed for that market.
In 2007, thanks to new technologies, the first cue of the Longoni range, with curved ring designs, the ""New Age"", was introduced to the market. From this moment, this technique would become a distinctive element of the entire Longoni range, with models that would make history such as ""The Prince"", ""Sultan"", ""Pk2"".