Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol (GeMS), named after its founders, was established in Milan on 13 October 2005 as a result of the collaboration between two prominent Italian publishing dynasties. The holding company is now led by Stefano Mauri, President and CEO and Marco Tarò, CEO, and is controlled by Messaggerie Italiane as its major shareholder (70.08%), which owns it together with the Spagnol family (20,85%), Elena Campominosi (5%), Andrea Micheli (3.07%) and Gianluca Mazzitelli (1%).

Messaggerie Italiane also controls Emmelibri and, together with its associated companies, is a market leader in the book distribution industry in Italy, with over 83 million books distributed to more than 12.000 retail outlets, including bookshops and supermarkets. With its portfolio of 11 publishing houses and 20 different imprints, over the past decade the GeMS group has published numerous high-profile Italian authors whose works have topped the best-sellers lists: Stefania Auci, Donato Carrisi, Erin Doom, Francesco Filippi,

Nicola Gardini, Alessia Gazzola, Francesca Giannone, Massimo Gramellini, Helena Janeczek, Felicia Kingsley, Valter Longo, Vito Mancuso, Gianluigi Nuzzi, Marcello Simoni, Matteo Strukul, Ilaria Tuti, and Andrea Vitali. The GeMS group has also published with outstanding success a vast array of important works by international authors, among them André Aciman, Glenn Cooper, Clive Cussler, Ildefonso Falcones, Jonathan Safran Foer, Peter Handke, Gail Honeyman, Rupi Kaur, Marie Kondo, Michelle Obama, James Patterson, Clara Sánchez and Malala Yousafzai, as well as authors of contemporary classics who have helped put the Group on the map, namely Roald Dahl, Jostein Gaarder, Claudio Magris, J.K. Rowling, Luis Sepúlveda, Patrick Süskind, and Tiziano Terzani. The GeMS group has quickly established itself as a leading force in Italian publishing, with a proven ability to scout and promote the most promising international authors.

Moreover, in recent years the Group has invested in digital marketing and publishing through partner companies both in ebook distribution and quality audiobooks and podcast production. GeMS views its role as that of overseeing production to maximixe the advantages inherent in a group-wide business, while allowing each publishing house complete autonomy – the freedom to sign up new authors and to manage the finances of its own projects.