Istituto Geografico De Agostini was founded in Rome by the geographer Giovanni De Agostini in 1901.
A representative and sales office was opened just a stones' throw away from the Fontana di Trevi: this was the first showcase office bearing the De Agostini trademark.

1904 marked the debut of the first Calendario Atlante De Agostini, soon to gain widespread popularity under the name Atlantino. The underlying idea was to combine a pocket calendar with a geographical overview of the world, with data and maps. It was a resounding success that immediately became the image product of the Institute and was to remain so for more than a hundred years.

A massive and detailed work: the first map of Italy (scale 1:250.000) for the Touring Club Italiano.
The product met with the consumers’ approval and had a high circulation.

Preference was given to the northwest of Italy in view of its excellent links with the industrial world in which Giovanni De Agostini took his first steps in business. Due consideration was also given to the significant connections there with Germany, home of the best precision instruments used in cartography.

The company was taken over by Marco Adolfo Boroli and Cesare Angelo Rossi, who upgraded the cartography side of the business by contributing the Scientific Director Luigi Visintin. Paying 180,000 lire as share capital, Boroli and Rossi set up a new general partnership.

This year was a milestone with the issue of the first edition of the Grande Atlante Geografico: a revolution reflected in the appearance for the first time of maps drawn using the larger scales. The following quote was published in Corriere della Sera: "After so many years of tribute to the great German, English and French atlases, we have finally rid ourselves of this humiliating slavery".

Diversification in the publishing sector: installation of the first web rotogravure printing system. In the twenties the cost of modernising its technology weighed heavily on the company’s accounts, but this change was imposed by the production requirements of a fast-changing, dynamic market.

1946, the year in which the company was taken over completely by the Boroli family, marked the start of a period of massive development and expansion under the guidance of Achille Boroli, first on his own and then, for more than 30 years, with his brother Adolfo.
In 1947, the share capital of the company was increased from 19 to 50 million lire in order to finance new products.

This was the year of the first instalment of the encyclopaedia Il Milione, which was to become the largest and most complete geographical encyclopaedia, sorted by continents and countries, with 312 weekly instalments of 32 pages each, marking the start of the Partworks era.

Creation of the instalment sales division which, in just a short time, was to become a successful means for distributing encyclopaedias all over the world, allowing De Agostini to reinforce its own publishing, production and commercial model.

Graphic activities were hived off from publishing activities and concentrated in the new company Officine Grafiche De Agostini.
Istituto Geografico De Agostini became the hub of a strategy directed towards internationalisation of the Group, a strong upswing in collectable products, and diversification of activities according to sales channel.

In this period the Group reached unmatched levels of expansion in Italy and abroad.
Innovative marketing strategies and products, efficient planning of advertising, international exchange of know-how, the creation of new media for new segments and of multimedia products were the main factors behind its success.

Death of Adolfo Boroli (1996). Achille resigned from his position as Chairman of the Holding. The partners entrusted leadership of the Group to Marco Drago, responsible for the extraordinary development of the publishing Group over the previous ten years.

In 1997, De Agostini and other investors participated in the privatisation of Seat. Apart from the highly satisfactory financial return, this operation made it possible to initiate strategic cooperation with Seat Pagine Gialle, which was to pave the way for new business projects such as the Virgilio portal. The Holding launched its new organisational structure to take over the tasks of strategic guidance, coordination of operations and management control, assigning responsibility for the governance and development of their respective areas of business to the sub-holdings (Publishing, Media and Communication, Financial and Other Activities).

The celebrations to mark the centenary of the Group culminated in the visit to the company of the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

2002 was marked by the successful Public Tender Offer on the majority of the shares of Lottomatica S.p.A., a leading Italian games and services company, by the acquisition of UTET, the highly prestigious Turin-based publishing house, and by acquisition of a majority holding in Mikado Film, a film production and distribution company based in Italy.

Purchase of Toro Assicurazioni S.p.A. (founded in Turin in 1833) and of a major stake in Antena 3, one of the leading Spanish radio and TV networks.

Debut of the De Agostini Editore S.p.A. sub-holding which, by the end of 2005, would control the various sectors of the publishing business: Partworks, Direct Marketing, Books, School Texts and Cartography, Large General Culture Works, and Professional Publishing.
The aim was to reinforce business and garner new opportunities for the development of publishing activities in Italy and abroad.
July 2004 marked the setting up of De Agostini Scuola S.p.A. which combines the school texts business of the De Agostini Group and Utet.
The main brands are: De Agostini, Petrini, Theorema Libri, Valmartina, Liviana, Garzanti Scuola, Garzanti Linguistica (under exclusive licence).

The reorganisation process of De Agostini Editore S.p.A. came to a head in January 2005 with the setting up of Istituto Geografico De Agostini, which concentrated activities in the books and cartography sector. Meanwhile the group came to an agreement with Wolters Kluwer (the Anglo-Dutch multinational specialising in professional publishing) for the sale of De Agostini Professionale S.p.A. and UTET Professionale S.r.l. (specialising in legal and fiscal publishing). June 2005 saw Toro Assicurazioni S.p.A. listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

In August the subsidiary Lottomatica S.p.A. conducted a total buy-out of GTech Holdings Corporation, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and leading supplier of technology for games and services. In July De Agostini S.p.A. finalised the sale of its controlling interest in Toro Assicurazioni S.p.A. to Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.
In December, De Agostini S.p.A. acquired control of Cdb Web Tech S.p.A. from which, through a name-change, DeA Capital S.p.A., a company active in financial investments, was created.

De Agostini S.p.A. acquired control of Magnolia S.p.A., a leader in the concept and production of original format entertainment and fiction, as well as adaptation of international formats for television and interactive media. In January Investitori Associati Sgr, De Agostini S.p.A. and Wise Sgr also created IDeA S.p.A., a new international player in alternative investment.
In October De Agostini Communications acquired the majority of the Marathon Group, operating in France in the production of audiovisual content (fiction, animation, documentaries and entertainment).

DeA Capital announced the completion of the purchase from De Agostini Invest S.A. of a 44.36% shareholding in IDeA Alternative Investments S.p.A. The acquisition by DeA Capital of the stake in IDeA is part of De Agostini's strategy to concentrate all the Group's alternative investment operations in DeA Capital. After the acquisition of svedish Zodiak Television, in November 2008 came the launch of Zodiak Entertainment, a leading brand in the production of creative entertainment content for television and new media. Zodiak Entertainment controls Magnolia (Italy), Marathon Group (France) and Zodiak Television (Sweden), operating in the production of content for television and new media. In December DeA Capital announced completion of the acquisition of a 70% stake in First Atlantic Real Estate, one of Italy’s leading groups in real estate fund management (with around € 2.9 billion under management – end 2008) and in the provision of property management, project management and agency services.

In May the Consorzio Lotterie Nazionali (controlled by Lottomatica) gains for the duration of nine years the new concession of “Scratch & Win” instant lotteries, winning the tender established by the “Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato” (the Italian Gaming regulatory body). In June Zodiak Entertainment acquires RDF Media Group, one of the UK’s largest independent production and distribution companies with operations in the UK and US. In July the activities headed by De Agostini Editore are reorganised into three distinct and independent business areas, whose managers report directly to the CEO of the holding De Agostini S.p.A. This reorganisation is designed to increase business activity focus, speed up decision-making processes and streamline organisational assets. The three areas are: De Agostini Partworks, De Agostini Cultura, De Agostini Direct Marketing. The activities relating to Digital De Agostini report to the Chairman of De Agostini Editore S.p.A. In september Zodiak Entertainment changes name into Zodiak Media Group.

In October the process to merge First Atlantic Real Estate SGR S.p.A. (a company in which DeA Capital S.p.A. holds an indirect 70% interest) into FIMIT – Fondi Immobiliari Italiani SGR S.p.A. was completed, and at the same time the latter changed its name to IDeA FIMIT SGR S.p.A. This will create Italy's largest real estate asset management company with around EUR 8.9 billion in assets under management and 20 funds (including 5 listed funds). De Agostini Editore reorganizes its activities through the creation of two companies: De Agostini Libri S.p.A., specialized in the production of books, major works, tourist guides, maps and scholarly publishing; and De Agostini Publishing S.p.A., the world leader in the Partworks business with production that ranges from sample collections to reference with digital content.

Antena 3 and La Sexta merge and after the integration the new group includes eight channels (Antena 3, La Sexta, Neox, Nova, Nitro, La Sexta 2, La Sexta 3, Gol TV). De Agostini Publishing S.p.A., company active in the area of Partworks in Italy and worldwide, acquires 100% of Mutado, Creative Digital Agency. In March Libromania S.r.l. was founded from the partnership between De Agostini Libri and Newton Compton. The new company is active in the sectors of publishing promotion and commercial services also for third parties. De Agostini Editore launches the new “system” of kids TV channels: DeAJunior (3-5 years) on Sky channel 623, DeAKids (6-8 years)on Sky channels 601 and 602, Super! (8-12 years) on DTT channel 47 and on Sky channel 625, DeASapere (for families) on Sky channel 420.

In January De Agostini Editore Group completes the disposal of the entire stake held by De Agostini Libri in Utet S.p.A. and, specifically, of the General Reference and high-end publishing. Classics and Essays continue to be published by De Agostini Libri S.p.A. under the Utet Libri brand. In March "Grupo Antena 3" changes its corporate identity with the name "Atresmedia", while in June the new company’s name "GTECH S.p.A." becomes effective in place of "Lottomatica Group S.p.A.".

On July 16 GTECH S.p.A. announces that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with International Game Technology, Inc. (NYSE: IGT), a global leader in casino and social gaming entertainment, headquartered in Las Vegas. Under the terms of the transaction, IGT and GTECH will combine under a newly formed holding company organized in the United Kingdom. The transaction creates the world’s leading end-to-end gaming company, uniquely positioned to capitalize on opportunities across global gaming market segments.
On 1° October Santé SA, 43% owned by DeA Capital, finalised the sale of its majority stake in Générale de Santé to Ramsay Health Care, leading international group active in the management of private clinics. In this transaction, the total enterprise value of the french group was valued at around 1.6 billion Euro.

On April 7, 2015, GTECH S.p.A. achieves the cross-border merger in the english subsidiary International Game Technology PLC and, soon after, it completes the acquisition of the US company International Game Technology, Inc. On the same day the new IGT debuts on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming world leader in the gaming industry.
In January, DeA Capital, BC Partners and other shareholders, sell to the Turkish company Anadolu Endüstri Holding half of their own shares in Migros, and keep the remaining 40.25% of the retail chain.

On February 23 leading international entertainment entities Banijay Group and Zodiak Media completed the transaction to unite their complementary catalogues and production units.
The newly-created Banijay Group is 73.8% controlled by a company composed of Stéphane Courbit’s LOV Group (50.1%) and DeA Communications – a company belonging to De Agostini Group (49.9%), with Vivendi owning 26.2% of the total Group.
With revenues of around US$1 billion, the completed merger has created the world’s biggest independent production company.

From 1 January 2017 starts DeA Planeta Libri Srl, formed as a joint venture between De Agostini Libri S.p.A. and Editorial Planeta Sau, Grupo Planeta’s company, the leading international publisher of books in Spanish and second international publisher in French (through Editis Group). The new company develops the activity in the Trade Books sector in Italy.

In October, DeA Capital launches a new phase of development of Alternative Asset Management platform with the rebranding of the group's SGRs: IDeA Capital Funds SGR and IDeA FIMIT SGR changed their names to DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR S.p.A. and DeA Capital Real Estate SGR S.p.A.

To create a pan-European platform in Real Estate Asset Management, DeA Capital Real Estate France was born in 2018.

In 2019 DeA Capital Real Estate Iberia and DeA Capital Real Estate Poland are created.

DeA Capital also completes the acquisition of the business unit consisting of the NPL Management activities of Quaestio SGR (Atlante and Italian Recovery Fund) and the relative majority stake of Quaestio Holding (38.8%).

As part of the pan-European real estate asset management platform, DeA Capital Real Estate Germany begins to operate in January. In February, DeA Capital, through its subsidiary Kenan Investments, finalizes the sale of a residual stake in Migros. In May, IGT Lottery completes the sale of 100% of the share capital of Lottomatica Videolot Rete S.p.A. and Lottomatica Scommesse S.r.l., the members of the IGT group which conduct its Italian B2C business gaming, to Gamenet Group S.p.A.

In June 2022, the Shareholders’ meeting appointed the new Board of Directors of De Agostini S.p.A. Lorenzo Pellicioli was appointed Chairman, Enrico Drago and Nicola Drago (fourth generation of shareholders) were confirmed Vice Presidents, and Marco Sala became Chief Executive Officer of the holding company De Agostini S.p.A.
Marco Drago leaves the Chairmanship of De Agostini S.p.A. after 25 years and is appointed Chairman Emeritus. He continues to serve as Chairman of the parent company B&D Holding S.p.A. from July 2018.
At the end of February 2022, IGT Lottery sells the subsidiaries LIS Holding and LISPAY, which leads the payment activities, to PostePay, a Poste Italiane company. Furthermore, the fifty-fifty joint-venture between De Agostini Libri S.r.l and Mondadori Libri S.p.A., which creates a partnership with a time-honoured publishing house and allows the De Agostini Group to maintain its commitment to the book sector activity, was closed in April. The transaction also includes the acquisition from Mondadori Libri of 100% of Libromania, a company active in the promotion of third-party publishers.
In May, the process of gradually divesting the stake in Assicurazioni Generali (hold by De Agostini since 2006) ended.