SILCA was founded in 1917 by Felice Sacchi just outside of Milan, Italy. The company innovated and grew quickly by innovating as the first company to put gauges on pumps, the first company to produce a true 'high-pressure' frame pump, the first to work with the revolutionary lightweight material plastic after the end of WWII.  More recently, the company was first with a valve controlled CO2 inflator, and with some irony, the first to move away from plastics and back to wood handles.  Along the way, the company ideals became deeply rooted in a combination of durable materials, traditional craftsmanship, and innovation.  It is no accident that so many of the SILCA pumps of the 1960's and 70's are still in use today, nor is it accidental that we continue to sell replacement parts for those very pumps.