The Compasso d'Oro is an industrial design award that originated in Italy in 1954. The Milanese department store La Rinascente initially sponsored the award, but since 1964, the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) has organized and managed it. The Compasso d'Oro is the first and among the most recognized and respected design awards. It aims to acknowledge and promote quality in industrial design in Italy and internationally and has been called both the "Nobel" and the "Oscar" of design.

The Compasso d′Oro was established in 1954, and it is the highest honor in the field of industrial design in Italy, comparable to other prestigious international awards such as the Good Design Award, the iF Design Award, Red Dot Award, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards, and the Good Design Award (Japan). It was the first award of its kind in Europe and became internationally significant.

Franca Helg and Franco Albini receive the award for their work on the Milan Metro (1964) The original idea for the award is credited to designers Gio Ponti and Alberto Rosselli. Many other leading architects and designers of the era, including the Castiglioni brothers (Livio, Pier Giacomo, and Achille), Albé Steiner, Enzo Mari, and Marco Zanuso, were involved in aspects of its inception and early development. The Compasso d'Oro logo, designed by Steiner, and the award trophy invoke the drafting compass invented by Adalbert Göringer in 1893 to measure the Golden Section.

The Italy Industrial Designing Association manages the Compasso d'Oro, and it is also a member of the International Industrial Designing Committee and the European Designing Bureau.

Since its inception, approximately 350 designers have been honored with the award for designs covering a wide range – from automobiles and bicycles to furniture and household objects, portable sewing machines, typewriters, calculators, clocks, and lighting, as well as concepts and systems, technical equipment, and yachts.

In 2025, Treccani Institute published a comprehensive history of the Compasso d'Oro. The volume is over 1,000 pages and includes 2,275 images that document the ADI museum's collection dating from its 1954 inception through to 2022. It is published in both Italian and English versions.

According to en.wikipedia.org