The Beginnings
When Enrico Falck - who already belonged to the third generation of steel-making pioneers - put together two ironworks and bought his first property at Sesto S. Giovanni, his vocation was iron-making, as had been the case for his father and grandfather. Here was the metal industry, a sector full of adventure and the metal industry meant progress. Travelling through Europe, Giorgio Enrico had gained direct experience. He worked in Germany, in the heavy industries of the Rhineland, as a simple worker, too.
After managing the Malavedo plant in Lecco with a partner and after other job experiences as a qualified technician, G.E. Falck moved in the direction of Milan, to Sesto San Giovanni, the hub of industrial plants. This meant greater ease in procuring scrap (the raw material for steel) and German carbon thanks to the railway. It also meant an ample water supply.

The Dates
The Società Anonima Acciaierie e Ferriere Lombarde dates from 1906. From that moment on Falck purchased one company after the other (1911 amalgamation with the Ferriera di Milano) and the growth of the steel-making complex of Sesto S. Giovanni (originally it was the "Unione" plant. Then came "Concordia" and "Vulcano", after which there was "Vittoria"). Alongside the development of the steel-making plants, the Company began setting up a chain of hydroelectric power plants from 1917 on. The first one was the Boffetto plant on the Adda River in Valtellina. These plants were designed to supply the plants of Sesto San Giovanni. This programme was completed in 1962 and il led to the building of 15 hydroelectric plants, fed by 9 tanks and served by a medium and high-tension line over 500 km long. It connected the Alpine and Appenine plants with manufacturing areas and with the national electric networks. Falck came to the South of Italy in 1924, when it purchased the Società Cantieri Metallurgici Italiani of Castellammare, then it moved to Naples in 1930. After receiving the decoration of Cavaliere, awarded to Italy's foremost industrialists, Giorgio Enrico Falck received an honourary degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnical Institute of Milan. In 1934 he became a Senator of the Kingdom. The name Falck was added to the company name in 1931, and in 1935 the Acciaierie di Bolzano (Steelworks of Bozano) were founded. Production fell during the five years of war (from April of 1940 to April of 1945), because of considerable damage to the plants, but it did not come to a stop. The funds made available by the Marshall plan made it possible to rebuild and modernise the plants. In the academic year 1961/62 a Chair in the Steel Industry was created at the Polytechnical Institute of Milan, thanks to funds contributed by the Falck family. 1963 was the year in which the company was first quoted on the Milan Stock Exchange, when Giovanni Falck, the son of the founder, was President. In 1964 Bruno Falck, the Vice President of the Company was named Cavaliere del Lavoro for the creation of the Bolzano steelworks. In 1971 the Company was the major private steelmaking group in Italy with an annual steel production of 1,250,000 tons., or around 1.8% of the entire National Product. The Company lost the Unione-plant's General Manager, Manfredo Mazzanti, in November of 1980, he was a victim of Red-Brigade terrorism. In 1982, Alberto Falck took over the Company. He is the son of Enrico and is supported by Giorgio Enrico Falck, the Vice President, General Manager, and son of Giovanni.

Sesto S. Giovanni
The first Falck facilities in the city of Sesto S. Giovanni date back to 1906 with the purchase of part of the present area, called Unione. The total area was 140.000 sq. mt. Shortly after that, work was started on the Falck Village, which was built to house Falck employees. The city grew and the Breda, Marelli and nearby Pirelli companies gave a considerable boost to its population. Houses, schools, nursery schools, social centres, sports facilities were built by the company itself which often dealt with maintenance as well. Falck built, bought and offered the workers of Sesto, Vobarno and Dongo over 2,000 apartments, as well as old-age homes, working people's clubs, summer camps, sports facilities and libraries. But the crisis in the world-wide steel-making industry, occuring between this height of industrial progress and the present, completely altered the overall scenarios for manufacturers and, thus, Falck as well. Up to now the areas belonging to Falck in Sesto S. Giovanni have covered an area of around 1,500,000 m2 . A major project for these areas has got under way aimed at their economical recovery and social improvement.

The Steel Industry Departs
In 1964 there was a total of 16,000 workers in the Falck Group, more than 9,000 of whom were in Sesto S. Giovanni. In 1987 the number of workers had dropped to 8,100. In 1994 this figure was down to 2,000. What had happened? In 1975 industrial investments were progressively declining as was the demand coming from a portion of the traditional sector of large-scale steel consumers. The gradual introduction of lower-quality but also less-costly steel coming from steelmakers outside the European Union, led to a serious crisis for the manufacturers. In 1978, the European Commission launched the "Davignon Plan" which provided for the adjustment of production, the introduction of compulsory minimum prices, of indicative but not obligatory prices, the accusation of dumping by manufacturers outside the European Community which had allegedly sold at prices lower than reference ones. The purpose of the "Dauvignon Plan" was to scale down the entire steel-making industry. In Italy, inflation, the credit squeeze, the very high cost of money, and the rise in raw-material costs made the problem all the more serious. To cope with this situation, Falck made an agreement with Ilva (1990). But in 1994 Ilva broke the agreement and initiated arbitration. Falck had to suffer losses of 440 billion lire over a four-year period. The number of employees had to be cut to 2,500.

The Revival of Power Production
Given these conditions, it seemed impossible to remain in the steel-making sector. For this reason, Falck decided to agree to the European plan for closing provided for in Law 481. In 1995 application for dismantling was submitted to the Ministry of Industry and it involved the Companies Falck Nastri, Falck Lamiere, and Falck Vittoria. In the meantime numerous activities were sold to third parties, the major one being the Bolzano steelworks in 1995. With the authorisation of the European Commission, as well as by agreement with the local authorities and labour unions, all the steel-making plants of Sesto were dismantled and then scrapped in the first half of 1996. 

It was within this sphere of activities that Società Nordelettrica Sondel, founded in 1983 with the scope of generating electricity and the operator of all Falck Group power plants, became the second-biggest independent power producer in Italy until the year 2001 when the company was sold.

The last four years have seen the total revamping and re-positioning of Falck's activities in the environmental, and energy sectors as well as the redesigning of the Sesto San Giovanni area. In particular, both hydroelectric and thermoelectric-heat-recovery production have been developed in a short time.