1908 - 1954
Antonio Falchetti: the birth of a dream
Antonio Falchetti: the birth of a dream
MTA’s story is one of
typical Italian entrepreneurship. It’s the story of a company that began from almost nothing, and, thanks to
the intuition, determination, and perseverance of its founders, grew over time
to become one of our country’s
greatest strengths.
It all started with Antonio Giulio Falchetti. Born in Genoa
on April 4, 1908, Antonio began his career working at Stigler, a historic
elevator and freight elevator company. By 1930, when he was just 22 years old, he was already a
skilled technician, and was in charge of installing the elevators on board the
Rex, a luxury ocean liner under construction at the Ansaldo shipyards in Sestri
Ponente.
In 1933, at the age of 25, Antonio set sail aboard the Rex as an elevator
technician. And this wasn’t
a voyage like any other, because the ocean liner completed its route from Genoa
to New York in record time, receiving the "Blue Riband", an accolade awarded
to passenger ships that crossed the Atlantic Ocean at record speeds during
regular nonstop commercial service.
For Antonio, 1933 was an important year, also because it market the birth of his eldest son, Umberto. who was followed by his brother, Giuseppe, three years later.
Dark times, however, were on the horizon, and World War II broke out just a few years later. Antonio Falchetti, who had completed his military service in the air force, in Capua (Caserta), was enlisted by that same branch, and, due to his expertise as an elevator technician, was stationed at the Cameri air base (near Novara), where the ocean liners, requisionited by the Royal Italian Navy were supposed to be transformed into aircraft carriers with the task to build the elevators needed to lift the planes from the hangars onto the flight decks.
After the war Antonio was called back to work at Stigler, but this time at the office in Milan, and moved to Codogno with his aunt on his mother’s side, who was married to a lieutenant from Codogno that she has met during World War I. In those days, Codogno was little more than a rural village immersed in the countryside between Lodi and Piacenza. However, the town turned out to be very hospitable, offering everything that the war-torn cities were no longer able to provide due to the bombing. Antonio moved to that small village, sometimes using makeshift means, where he found hospitality with his aunt, uncle and cousins. In 1944 his wife and his children reached him in Codogno, where they remained. While continuing to work at Stigler-Otis, Falchetti decided to build something of his own, and, with the help of a friend, these efforts resulted in the establishment of Fusibili S.r.l. in 1949. In fact, Antonio Falchetti sensed that there was a potentially large market for fuses, including high-voltage fuses. For this reason, in 1952, he founded another company, Microtecnica Codognese, which shortly afterwards, in 1954, was renamed Meccanotecnica Codognese, marking the official founding of the company that would go on to become MTA.
“At my job, I noted how easily fuses burned, and how electricians didn’t think twice about throwing out small electrical parts, like terminals, because of their size and low cost”