"Rode" was officially founded in 1953, the first invoice being dated December 1, 1953, but its history goes back a long way. Founder Rizzieri Rodeghiero was born on December 5, 1919, in Asiago. During his teenage years, winters were truly brutal, with temperatures that many today would call polar, truly freezing from October to March. The almost always heavy snowfall forced many to stay indoors, but if you were naturally one for never staying still, then, after completing the little homework your teacher gave you, you'd stay outdoors. To do what? The good fortune of having a pair of skis made by the local carpenter did the rest. From the first ski excursions around the house to the walks and runs in the hills of the district, from the first challenges with friends to the first races in the village, his passion for this sport grew. And along with that, he began experimenting with mixtures to put under his skis to make them slide, especially since the snow tended to stick to the untreated wood, creating a "hoof," as they say. Then came the first skis with lacquered bases, and the problem was reversed: he needed something to put underneath to keep him from slipping on the slopes. And so it was back to the kitchen pots, testing, testing, and testing the mixtures of beeswax, pine resin, tar, and who knows what else. After finishing school at 15, he began working as a lumberjack, which took up most of the year, but in the evenings, despite his tiredness, he found time to study from chemistry books borrowed from the pharmacist. During the winter, his work stopped, so he returned to working as an alchemist in the kitchen and then tested his mixtures on his skis. Meanwhile, his athletic results also grew, and he stood out in his first national races. In 1939, he won his first major race in Dobbiaco, followed by countless others, both nationally and internationally. Between 1946 and 1951, he won seven Italian titles, in the 18-kilometer and 50-kilometer cross-country races and the Nordic combined. He participated in the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, but his physical condition was not the best. Despite a bout of flu, he started the individual race and finished 14th. He fared better in the relay, posting the third-fastest time. His competitive activity allowed him to meet many athletes, including foreigners, whom he allowed to try his mixtures, and within a few years, he began supplying them. Demand continued to grow, so he founded "Rode," the nickname by which everyone in town knew him. In 1952, after the Oslo Olympics, he took on the role of federal cross-country ski coach, preparing the then-strong team, especially from a technical standpoint. At the 1964 Grenoble Olympics, "RODE" himself, using his wax, prepared the skis of Franco Nones, the gold medalist. He left his post as national coach in 1972 when his work at the company no longer allowed him to carry out his duties with the usual commitment.. Within a few years, Rode had reached the world's top levels. Since then, the continuous development of new, high-quality cross-country skiing products has brought the STICK and KLISTER lines to such a high level that competitors have repeatedly attempted to imitate them. Even today, there is no national or international competition in which these products are not used successfully. In the 1990s, production of the first fluoride waxes began, which have remained popular for a quarter of a century. In 2020, the revolution in fluoride chemistry, the fight against pollution, and the aspiration towards an "eco-sustainable" world are opening up new horizons... Rode will adapt by developing new, high-quality products to allow everyone to achieve significant results, as has been the case for 70 years.