Vetroarredo's origins date back to 1928 when, on the initiative of Prince Pietro Ginori Conti, the "Istituto Sperimentale per lo Studio e l'Applicazione dei Prodotti del Boro e del Silicio" was established in Florence.
This institute played a leading role in developing one of the most demanding production processes in terms of quality: optical glass.

In 1940, the Institute became part of Italy's most important state-owned industrial group, IRI, which was involved in the manufacture of optical products taking on the name of S.a.i.v.o.

After the Second World War the company broadened its production to include glass tiles (mosaics), ceramic enamel and tableware.

In 1990, Fidenza Vetraria, a long-established Italian producer of glass insulators, tableware, lighting glass and glass blocks, took the company private.
It was glass blocks, whose production was in 1991 transferred to the former S.a.i.v.o. plant in Florence, that marked the basis of Vetroarredo's future business.