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The Varedo factory was built in 1924 on behalf of a small company, the SA Artificial Silk Set Varedo, founded by the large industrial group SNIA Viscosa.
The group was founded in 1917 in Turin by Riccardo Gualino and Giovanni Agnelli with the name SNIA, an Italian-American shipping company (SNIA), initially operating in the maritime sector for the transport of fuel from the United States to Italy.
In fact, after the end of the First World War the transport in the maritime sector suffered a decline and the SNIA started a new activity linked to the production and trade of synthetic textile fibers, acquiring the Viscosa di Pavia and modifying the original name in Shipping and Industry. . The growing demand for new synthetic fibers on both the domestic and foreign markets, pushes the company to concentrate its production in the chemical fiber sector, changing its name for the third time into the definitive name of Società Nazionale Industria Viscosa Applications (SNIA Viscosa ).
In the 1930s the Snia di Varedo became part of the parent company, some departments were enlarged and the clinic, the nursery and a new coal-fired power station were built. During the Fascist period production was concentrated on artificial fibers: in 1931 SNIA was in fact the first company to manufacture staple, a type of short fiber that can also be spun by textile companies, followed by other innovations such as lanital, merinova and acetate.
During the Second World War the Varedo factory was not damaged as it was initially declared an auxiliary plant and later occupied by German troops.
In the 50s and 60s, with the arrival on the market of new synthetic fibers derived from oil (such as nylon), the Varedo plant is quadrupled, occupying a total area of 483,0000 square meters, with a volume of 450,000 cubic meters . At the same time all the plants are upgraded and a new thermoelectric power station is erected; in the 1960s, the number of employees reached 6,250.
In the 1970s, the oil crisis and competition from foreign countries led to a collapse in the artificial fibers sector; moreover, the introduction of new regulations for the regulation of environmental pollution values requires SNIA to make significant innovations to air, water and smoke treatment plants. The need to invest too large capital and the violent trade union struggles that followed one another in the 1970s in the Varedo headquarters led to a decision in 1982 to stop half of the plants; the rest of the factory continues to produce, with an increasingly reduced number of staff, until October 2003, when the last department is also closed.
