History of Besa
Since 1946 solutions on safety valves
The Foundation
1946, here we go...
It was 1946, when engineers Beltrami and Santangelo decided to set up a company dedicated to the resale of industrial taps and fittings.
BESA, whose name is the union of the first letters of the founders' surnames, was founded.
The following year, in 1947, one of the founders left the company and the shares were taken over entirely by Ing. Antonio Santangelo.
Post-war reconstruction
Growth in the 50s
In the early 1950s, Besa began to specialise in safety valves, starting a production on Italian soil, purchasing a new building at Via Donatello 31, in Milan, strategically close to the ISPESL offices (nowadays INAIL), a choice also made at the time by several Milanese valve manufacturers.
At that time, Germany was exporting its industrial products all over the world and Besa made an agreement to represent Johannes Erhard H. Waldenmaier Erben on the Italian market. On the left there is a photo taken in April 1959 during the 37th Milan Trade Fair.
The example of a man devoted to his work
The story of Costantino
In 1951, Costantino was 14 years old when his mother suggested him to approach Mr. Santangelo, while he was leaving his house, to ask for a job. Costantino took his bike and stared to run after the engineer's car.
But following a car on a bike through Milan's streets was not easy and the young man finally managed to catch up with him only when the engineer arrived at the office.
Breathless from the chase, the teenager made his request. Touched and honoured by the endurance of the young boy, Mr. Santangelo decided to hire him as a reward. That was his first day, and the last was in 2024, when, with deep regret, he decided it was time to stop working at the remarkable age of 86. Thank you so much, Costantino, for all your dedication, for the example you set, and for the affection you have given to Besa throughout all these long years.
Second generation
The entrepreneur girl
In 1987, Mr. Santangelo's daughter, Rosa, joined the company at the tender age of 18, working alongside her elderly and ailing father. In 1991, Mr. Santangelo passed away and Rosa, still very young, began to run the company alone, supported by valuable collaborators.
In that days, a young woman as a head of an industrial company was not an ordinary fact. Some newspapers were interested by her story and asked her for interviews. Rosa declined all the requests, preferring to continue working in silence and successfully manage her father's work.
The change
The company's structuring
In 1993, Rosa was joined by her husband Fabio.
A deep transformation of the corporate structure begins.
Separate departments were defined: administration, technical, commercial and production, where each has its own manager.
The company logo has been modernised, the first numerically controlled production machines have been purchased and the management software has been upgraded to a more performant one.
Besa started again to partecipate in international trade fairs.
In these years Internet started to diffuse in Europe and Besa, trusting in this new technology, published his first website in 1998.
The move
Moving out of town
In 2005, was necessary to move into a larger building on the outskirts of East Milan. Via delle Industrie Nord, 1/A in Settala (MI) became the new Besa headquarter, still existing nowadays.
Consolidation
The expansion
Besa acquired "Nuova Coi", a small competitor, and in 2008 did a corporate reorganization and changed its name and denomination into "Coi Technology s.r.l.".
Now it is an established company specialized in safety valve for liquefied gas sector and for the construction of valves in special materials.
In the following years, turnover increased, foreign sales were established, and the entire production machinery was modernised.
Third generation
The story continues
In the 2020s, Andrea and Alessandro completed their studies and entered the family business with a lot of energy and many innovative ideas for the future. Encouraging the use of high-performance automation and improving specific in-house software.
