Maddalena Corti De Padova, together with her husband Fernando, began her activity in 1956 with the import of furniture and objects from Scandinavia, which were sold in their store on Via Montenapoleone in Milan and distributed in Italy. Maddalena De Padova then met Hermann Miller and the architects and designers Charles Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard. Soon after, her husband established I.C.F. De Padova, a modern furniture factory created to manufacture the office furniture of the Hermann Miller Collection on license in Italy. The collection was launched with the opening the store on Corso Venezia and distributed by I.C.F. De Padova. Since 1965 the showroom on Corso Venezia has displayed the De Padova collection of furniture and complements for home and office: 2,000 square meters of space, which George Nelson called «the world’s most beautiful store».