A Maccaferri gabion refers to a type of

gabion A gabion (from Italian ''gabbione'' meaning "big cage"; from Italian ''gabbia'' and Latin ''cavea'' meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building ...

produced by the

Maccaferri Officine Maccaferri S.p.A. is an Italian multinational company, headquartered in Zola Predosa, Bologna. The company specialises in products for the construction industry. Maccaferri's products are used for: retaining structures, soil reinforc ...

family. In 1893, in

Casalecchio di Reno Casalecchio di Reno ( Bolognese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. History Casalecchio's name is derived from ''Casaliculum'' ("collection of little houses"), and from the presence of ...

near

Bologna, Italy Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, large quantities of wire mesh Maccaferri sack

s were used for the first time to repair dams destroyed by a flood of the

river Reno The Reno () is a river of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, northern Italy. At ,Reno

. In the early 20th century, the Maccaferri family acquired a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

for a new type of box gabion, called Palvis (''Gabbioni a scatola Palvis''), and began the industrial-scale production and widespread introduction of gabions and mattresses for

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

applications. In 1911, Gaetano Maccaferri established business relationships in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the company began diversifying through acquisitions in various industrial sectors, though the

erosion control Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coast, coastal areas, Bank (geography), river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are ...

sector remained the core business. This process led to the global expansion of Maccaferri technology and expertise, to all

countries of the world The following is a list providing an overview of sovereign states around the world with information on their status and recognition of their sovereignty. The 205 listed states can be divided into three categories based on membership with ...

, with a direct presence in over forty countries across all continents.

References

Gabions {{interwiki extra, qid=Q88512