Packaging Valley: packaging’s Silicon Valley

Packaging valley, this is what the area between the cities of Bologna and Piacenza is called; the territory with the highest concentration of companies producing packaging machines.

In fact, there are more than 200 companies operating in the packaging sector that have become world leaders in the export of packaging machinery.

Not a simple network made up of small, medium-sized businesses and international companies, but a truly cutting-edge industrial district.

How was this possible?

Let’s find out together.

Why do packaging companies grow under the Two Towers? 

In light of what has been said previously, it is natural to ask what were the factors and events that made the development of packaging companies in this area favorable, and who were the protagonists who, thanks to ingenuity and the right intuitions, they have become creators of change and bearers of innovation.

It is a very long history, the beginning of which is usually thought to coincide with the industrial revolution, but actually, the origins are older and can be traced back to the time of the invention of silk mills.

As Alessio Zoeddu explains in the episode dedicated to the packaging valley of the podcast “Fabbrichiamo il Futuro” (“Let’s Build the Future”) of the Friends of the Industrial Heritage Museum Association, in Bologna the first packaging machines were born from the need to “package” the mortadella to allow it to be exported all over the world.

This is how the first packaging companies established themselves. These, thanks to the continuous technical improvement of the machines and the contribution of visionary entrepreneurs and engineers such as Bruto Carpigiani, began a rapid rise, which would have as its consequences the transformation of the surrounding territory and the progressive construction of an industrial district.

Cartotecnica Moreschini is also part of this district and for more than sixty years has been producing cardboard packaging, a resistant, versatile and above all recyclable material.

It operates mainly in the food sector, in the cosmetics sector and in the pharmaceutical one, creating sustainable packaging suited to every need.