ITALO CARFAGNINI and SO.F.TER.: the chemical formula of success.


Italo Carfagnini graduated in Industrial Chemistry and dedicated his entire career in to the plastic materials, serving in various companies with roles of growing importance.

In 1980, at the age of 37, he set up SO.F.TER. and since then his personal story has been closely linked to the story of the Company.

In the first years he set up and strengthened SO.F.TER. presence in the footwear industry. Later on, in the period from 1985 to 1990 he led the diversification process of the company towards new markets demanding high technology thermoplastics and founded the Technical Elastomer Division (1994) and the Engineering Thermoplastics Division (1997). Starting from 2005 he boosted the international presence of the Company by establishing  two new manufacturing and commercial units in Mexico and Brasil.

Through the years he also held several public offices: from 1994 to 1996 he was President of SEAF, the company that runs the Forlì Airport. From 1988 to 2003 he was Vice-President of Confindustria Forlì-Cesena (the local unit of the Confederation of Italian Industry). Italo Carfagnini was also consultant of the ENEA  and of Polytechnical University in Milan for the Department of Chemistry. He currently pursues scientific cooperation with the University of Bologna and Pisa and owns several internationally filed patents in the field of plasto-elastomeric compounds.

Italo Carfagnini was appointed Knight of the Italian Republic for his merits in 1996.

In his limited free time he cultivates his great passion for the sea, sailing and travels in general.