Speaking of A.B.C. and its 50 years of activity is a bit like going through the history of our country; we just need to remember that this company, established in the distant year of 1960, has travelled the length and breadth of Italy and been called out to all sorts of places to clear land from explosive ordnance left over from past wars.

But the history of A.B.C. has even more distant origins, and with the takeover in the 1970s of the company I.M.M.E.R. – which had already been operating in the field of explosive ordnance clearance since 1946 – we can claim that the company’s activities and experience date from the end of the conflict.

If we are to leaf through the great number of newspaper articles on findings of explosive ordnance in various places – from north to south, in the mountains and on islands, on land and in water – inevitably images and historical events from the Second World War come to mind.

套In all likelihood, the grenade was launched by the US artillery in the terrible August of 1944 when the Germans were retreating towards the Gothic Line and had occupied Campi Bisenzio: most likely, the target of the bomb was the German command which had taken up residence in Villa Montalvo…” (Campi The Ordnance Discovered during the Clearance Work for the New Motorway Route – La Nazione newspaper 22.06.1995)

And it is nice to remember that in those days the mine clearers – who cleared the land to allow farming activities to recommence – were called “corn men”.

A.B.C. helped to rebuild and develop our country. It was present throughout Italy on motorway construction sites, at works for new railway stations and lines, in laying new water pipes, in excavation works for new buildings and in general in all activities involved in land reclamation.
In this period, the reclamation work clients were the biggest state institutions: the Italian state railways, the road agencies ANAS and Società Autostrade, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, as well as the most important private companies and business consortia.
The newspapers defined A.B.C. as the “bomb catchers” or “bomb hunters”: many years have passed, but now we are seen even more as a leading company in the field of explosive ordnance clearance, in professional training and quality control in the various demining disciplines, and as a company whose primary objective has always been to exclude any risk connected to the operations it carries out.
In 1985, as part of a plan to diversify its activities, A.B.C. entered the sector of indoor shooting ranges for training purposes. It built structures and facilities on behalf of the Carabinieri, the state police, the tax police and the army. It designed and patented them, as ever with the primary aim of its workers’ absolute safety and maximum respect for the environment.
In an operation to streamline its activities, in 1999 the Shooting Range Division was transferred to a company that had been set up by its own technicians from the sector. Nevertheless, the company still held onto the ownership and use of all the patents it had obtained in the meantime.
Clearance activities are still the main backbone of the company, even though the methods, technology and tools used in the operations have changed. In particular A.B.C. carries out surveying and clearance activities in foreign countries plagued by new generation plastic mines. Here A.B.C. works under the control of the local MACs (Mine Action Centres), in full respect of the IMAS international mine action standards.

The activities that A.B.C. has and continues to perform in the specific sector are not limited to simple clearance operations, but concern all the main branches of mine action. Always in step with new technologies and in view of improving the clearance work also in terms of its own workers’ safety, in 1995 A.B.C. began to study demining machines in order to design and build new ones.

Indeed, since 1997 A.B.C. has expanded its activities in the sector of mechanised mine clearance, integrating its manual mine clearance work – as well as using sniffer dogs to uncover the terrible anti-personnel mines – with the purchase of a “Belarty” machine that had been obtained by transforming a T55 tank made in Slovakia and renamed LEONARDO 97.

On the back of its experience with LEONARDO 97, in 2003 A.B.C. designed, patented and built its own machine for preparing the land for clearance in humanitarian demining operations. Called “SCOUT”, it was tested and approved by the international authorities.

These machines are accompanied by metal detectors, excavators, water clearance tools, magnetic locators and other specific materials – helmets, protective jackets – which are always chosen in line with international standards.

All the personnel is highly specialised and has special Italian and international licences and, depending on requirements, they use dogs specifically trained for sniffing out buried mines and explosives.

Once again with a view to expanding its activities, in 1994 A.B.C. acquired two important companies from Finmeccanica: Selesmar Italia – radar producer – and Galileo Siscam – producer of hardware and software for studying the territory and cultural heritage. These acquisitions were also made with the aim of checking whether using these technologies to look for ordnance would involve less risks for the workers.
A.B.C. then sold off the radar industry and incorporated the company Galileo Siscam, thus creating A.B.C. General Engineering, a slim and efficient structure which, thanks to the support of highly qualified professionals, is today able to offer a vast range of services, coordinating and managing different types of activities and projects.
The importance and impact of this operation led to the beginning of international operations and cleared the way for new, far-reaching prospects; hence in 1996 the company began to operate in various countries abroad.

“Bosnia Florentine Firm Clears Mines for IFER” – La Nazione September 1996
Tuscans Clear Mines in Ex-Yugoslavia… the Railway between Bosnia and Croatia” – Toscana Oggi November 1996
“Florentine Firm to Clear Mines in Mostar Area” – La Nazione June 1997.

A.B.C. carried out various clearance campaigns in Croatia and in Bosnia & Herzegovina, financed by various international organisations. In particular, it was involved in reopening railway lines, like in the case of the stretch between Sisak and the Una river, completed in such a quick time span that the company earned official thanks from the SFOR Command.

Florentine Firm to Clear Mines in Kosovo. ABC’s Technicians to Work Alongside the NATO Military Contingent” – Il Giornale June 1999.

The company is not just present in on-site operations; it is also involved more generally within the international bodies that deal with mine clearance, offering its experience to draw up standards and procedures.
Among the other initiatives, in 1997 A.B.C. promoted the establishment of the European Consortium EDS – European Demining Service, comprising the most important European companies. The aim was to provide international institutions and agencies with a complete service and all-round skilled assistance, available in particular for humanitarian demining activities in countries plagued by war surplus.

In 1997 A.B.C. also won a particularly important job assigned by the Ministry of Transport in the Republic of Angola to clear mines along the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela railway line which starts in the city of Lobito and reaches the border with the Republic of Congo.
This work – which lasted for many years due to many interruptions, some of which particularly long, resulting from the frequent rekindling of local conflicts – was very demanding, crossing through deserts, forests and also touching on – in addition to the railway line – bridges and vast areas submerged under water.

But at A.B.C. it’s not just about clearance, and the new phase, after 1995, led to the opening of a “more noble” sector of activities – surveying and documenting the cultural heritage. One might say that after clearing the land, the company began to become concerned with our historic and artistic heritage, and not just here in Italy, but above all abroad.

In the survey field, the company has applied and developed many techniques to find out about the architectural, archaeological and environmental heritage, using various methods: topographical, photogrammetric and direct surveys; laser scanner surveys; photographic surveys and surveys of materials and surface decay.
From the cathedral in Siena to the duomo in Montepulciano, from the bridge at Mostar to the megalithic temples in Malta, the presence of A.B.C. in this sector at the service of local public institutions is an example of its reliability and professionalism through its continual search for innovative solutions.

A.B.C. offers services and professional activities in the sphere of architectural design, restoration and town planning and is able to coordinate the whole planning phase also thanks to partnerships with professionals from outside the group who are specialised in various fields.

Specialised personnel take care of every single activity in the restoration and construction operations. Particular care is always taken over the use of materials, the personnel’s safety and the image of the finished product.

But the “first 50 years” are not just an important point of arrival for the company, they provide a stimulus and a simple point of departure for the future: the history of A.B.C. goes on and will continue to do so, with the unwavering commitment of all its staff, whether in the business, administrative or operational line.
We don’t just consider this an ambitious goal: the esteem that the company has always been held in, the skills and professionalism of all its personnel, and the commitment and constant presence of its directors ensure that A.B.C. will carry on with its work into the future. So we can safely and proudly say… we’ll be here in another 50 years!