In the early 1960s, Bartolomeo Chiodo, an auto enthusiast, named his company Dugu from the name of one of the two districts of Varallo Sesia that was Mr. Chiodo's home - 'Dugu' means owl (the other district was 'falcet' - meaning falcon; Castellarin 2002).
Dugu and Rio, thus were two of the earliest model makers of veteran age cars, setting the stage for Solido, Corgi, Brumm and several other manufacturers to make toys representing the nascent auto era (Richardson 1999, p. 134).