The company currently combines three important industrial concerns, each of which boasts a longstanding tradition of technological and manufacturing excellence acquired in over a hundred years of activity. GEA Refrigeration Italy S.p.A. was founded in 1850 in Castel Maggiore near Bologna for the purpose of manufacturing all types of industrial machinery. Subsequently, with  the name "Gaetano Barbieri & Co." the company concentrated its activity mainly on the production of machine tools. The construction of compressors and refrigerating plants started in 1898. The company was among the very first to introduce and  develop the concept of prefabricated stores.   More