CAF, the Florentine transport cooperative and national leader in heavy goods transport, is celebrating its 50th birthday with a photography exhibit at the historic Giubbe Rosse cafe'.
It has also published a book that illustrates the history and milestones of the company from its inception in 1957, to the present.
CAF is the second largest transport company in Italy (and 26th largest in the world) thanks to 56 cranes with a combined tonnage of 6,500.
It numbers 130 employees including partners and workers and had a total of 15 million euro in proceeds last year.
The history of CAF follows that of Italy in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Following the war, Bruno Bini, a former partisan, was asked by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) to organize delivery caravans on the Porta al Prato/Sesto Fiorentino rail line.
The business was created from there and over the span of half a century it has become one of the most important heavy goods and industrial transport companies in the sector, in addition to leading the way in logistics and infrastructure and shipbuilding materials handling.
Some of CAF's most prestigious recent projects include the transport of the materials for the various art shows at Florence's Forte Belvedere from Moore in 1972 to Folon in 2004; the moving of the Perseus statue in the Loggia dei Lanza in Florence (1996-2000); the pennant on Giotto's bell tower (2000); the 50 year maintenance of the Florence Cathedral that was concluded in 2002; and the Pescia flower market.
CAF also assists on post natural disaster projects such as the Assisi earthquake (by securing the gable of the Basilica of St. Francis) and the 36-hour non-stop effort to clear the Milan-Rome railway after the commuter derailment in 1998.
