Four brothers, Nello, Eraldo, Alceo and Francesco Di Stefano, founded Gran Sasso in 1952 in Sant'Egidio alla Vibrata, a village on the Marche-Abruzzo border, naming the company after the nearby Gran Sasso d'Italia mountain range. Every garment has been produced entirely in Italy since that first year, with the company controlling each stage itself (spinning, dyeing, linking and finishing) rather than outsourcing any part of the process. The brand built out its international reputation through the 1970s and has stayed a family business since, still run along the same vertically integrated model.