Giovanni Servettaz

Giovanni Servettaz | © Archivio Visitsavona

Industry pioneer. Cremieux 1843 - Savona 1911

As soon as he graduated he came to Italy, first staying in Tuscany and then he settled permanently in Savona.

In 1880 the administration of the Civil Engineers entrusted him with the maintenance of the material needed for the Darsena Vittorio Emanuele. At the Sant’Erasmo pier, he set up a plant suitable for ship repairs and for the works of the new Tardy and Benech steelworks.

He became the main supplier of the materials needed for the devices of the switches and of the Italian railways and collaborated with the engineer Riccardo bianchi in the realization of the hydrodynamic system of the railway switches and signals then adopted in Italy and abroad, obtaining the adoro medal at the universal exposition. of Paris in 1889.

When Italy entered the war, Servettaz changed processing and 250 workers manufactured about 700 daily bullets.

Taken from "Filing cabinet of illustrious men in Savona" by Ernesto Baldassarre and Renato Bruno with the kind permission of the Savona History Patria Society.