Del Corona History

The company founded in 1874 is proud of its shipping tradition. At the begining of its activity, the company arranged the vessels unloading by transhipping the goods on boats, so called "Navicelli", which were then towed along the seaport and city shipways to the warehouses.

In these times the company still had the founder's name "Odoardo Del Corona" and it owned more than 40 Navicelli in addition to the warehouses in the historical area of the eighteenth century called "Venezia Nuova".

During the first years of the XX Century, after the founder's death in 1888, his sons kept on with the activity changing the name to "F.lli Del Corona". In that period the transport of the calcareous rock on its own Navicelli from the cliffs of Calignaia to the south of Livorno, on to Cementeria ltaliana, which was a very important industry during the first Italian Industrial Revolution, was its main activity among all others.

The queues of loaded Navicelli were towed by 5 coal tow-boats owned by the company. Then, till the end of the First World War the main activities of the company were the transport of English coal, of refractory materials, of building material and of chemical products of the rising italian chemical industry.

The cooperation with Società Montecatini of Carlo Donegani (also from Livorno and a family friend) goes back to the 20's.

This business relationship never ended for over 80 years and the company continuously supported the large industrial group during its transformation with shipping services and logistic solutions.

In 1932, after the death of the brothers Icilio and Ettore, the company's name changed again and became "Ditta Umberto Del Corona" which remained until the recent merger with "Fratelli Scardigli".

The third generation, the sons Umberto, Ettore and Odoardo, in this period took place in the company's management and the company contributed to the construction of the actual industrial port of Livorno, by transporting by sea from Pisa the cave material which was used for the construction of the quays.

The traditional specialization in the chemical and mineral sector was widely enlarged also to other commodities and the company finally handled 600.000 tons of product a year in the 5O/60's, of which most part was fertilizer distributed on the italian market and abroad.

The technologic transformation and the introduction of the container from 1970 and on, radically changed the shipping market. Umberto Del Corona followed its own tradition and adapted to the new realities and needs, by developping the services according to the most advanced technologic solutions.