On 26 January 1899, a company called Carminati, Toselli & C. was founded in the area around via Messina (at number 9); it was set up to "manufacture, repair, and sell mobile and fixed material for trains, trams and the like". The area the company had its headquarters in was still not very built-up and offered convenient possibilities to expand.
The tramcar repairs sector was going through a boom and market opportunities multiplied in a short time; as well as simple maintenance, the company also began to dedicate itself to producing rolling-stock for some of the many railway companies present at the beginning of the century all over Italy. More and more attention was being paid to studying new tramcars in that the tramways was increasingly becoming a driving force in economic development with the transformation of the traction method from animals to steam or electricity.
At the beginning of 1907, Carminati, Toselli & C. was wound up and "Società Italiana Carminati Toselli" was formed with the contribution of new shareholders, for the construction of transport equipment. The company not only changed its name but it also expanded by acquiring new land without buildings; within a few years the new headquarters took up the whole block enclosed by Messina, Procaccini, Nono Streets and Piazza Coriolano. Production never stopped during that time and the first patents appeared between 1907 and 1920, the same years that the buildings in the new area were being finished. The production of Carminati Toselli only slowed down with the outbreak of World War I and in fact, the public tramways service was forced to suppress entire lines and also reduce the overall number of tramcars in service.
On top of the economic damage, Carminati Toselli was also hit by a lot of physical damage. For example, a bomb destroyed the covered passageway of the Calderai shed (The Cathedral). At the end of the war the City Council took over the direct running of the urban tramway service; one of the first steps of the new management was to order a series of experimental cars from different companies in the sector. One of these was Carminati Toselli. At the end of 1919, Società Italiana Carminati Toselli employed 1350 factory workers. It was in that period, after the reduction caused by war events, that the production of Carminati Toselli expanded, thanks to a constant increase in the requests for tramcars. At the end of 1926, the tramways network of Milan grew to 151 Km; 700 tramcars circulated every day, with a total of 327 million passengers. If we think that in 1886 Milan counted 99 Km and 125 cars in service, we realise how, over a forty-year period, a substantial expansion of the tramways network took place. The peak of Carminati Toselli production lasted about a decade. In fact, when the Fascist regime came into power, a stalemate period began for the company, which quickly led to a true crisis.
In 1935 Società Italiana Carminati Toselli was wound up. After that, the buildings in the area enclosed by Messina, Procaccini, Nono streets and Piazza Coriolano were first leased out and then sold to various companies which performed the widest variety of activities (textile and pharmaceutical industries, typography, transport companies, varied warehouses). Each of these companies made changes to the buildings to adapt them to their needs, thereby modifying the original appearance. One of the biggest changes was made to the warehouses situated in via Procaccini, which, already seriously damaged following World War II bombing, were finally demolished. This demolition created a huge open area where a transport company constructed a large square for manoeuvres. On the other hand, some of the warehouses have been used for cultural events, fashion shows and as film sets more recently.
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