Who we are
Chi siamo
The history of Sice Previt has distant roots. After the First World War, Giovanni Tonini, originating from Trentino, worked as a designer and director of projects for dams and hydroelectric power plants at the Omodeo engineering office in Milan. The works carried out, both in Italy and abroad, are great works of transformation of the territory. These are the years of the first earthquake-proof dams, where the innovative capacity combined with experience allowed to build great works with little machinery and many hard-working people. After the experience gained in SIAF, where he specialized in the design of aqueducts, he founded the first company in the history of the Tonini family, “Tonini & Colombo”, a company operating in the field of hydraulic works.
Following the Second World War and in a country in need of reconstruction, Tonini founded a new construction company, “Ditta Ing. Tonini”. Tonini’s strength and determination are to be found in his great passion for the mountains, in his commitment to life, comparable to the care needed when climbing , in his sense of freedom and justice and in his pride of belonging to the Corpo degli Alpini ( Italian alpine trooper ). These values, along with honesty and reliability,not only do they constitute the foundations of Sice Previt , but also leade it still today.
In 1961 Ing. Tonini founded Sice Srl (Società Italiana Costruzioni Edili) and Previt S.p.A. (Prefabbricati Vermiculite Italiana) in which his son Leonardo Tonini used to work, a highly specialized engineer to whom we owe the development of the industrial prefabrication branch.
In addition to his activity as a builder, Leonardo Tonini started, in the seventies and eighties, several entrepreneurial initiatives aimed at the diffusion of new construction systems. Later on, together with other entrepreneurs, he has founded several companies, operating in Italy and abroad, which spread new construction ideas resulting from the comparison among different professional skills.
The untimely death of Ing. Leonardo, in 1985, brought his daughter, Ms. Monica Tonini, who took over from her father, to reorganize the company, focusing on the construction and renovation sector. In order to strengthen the offer, a collaboration was started with Programma Edile, an expanding company led by a young engineer, Arturo Caprio, son of two generations of industrial plant entrepreneurs.
The working and sentimental understanding led to the merger of the two companies, under the name of Sice Previt with 40 employees.
These first years of work are dedicated to the integration of the two realities and to the expansion of customers in the fashion industry until the 2000s when the carpentry workshop was born. The new specialization allows, while remaining in the construction sector, to enter the field of supplying stores of big brands. This new stimulus, as well as the far-sightedness of the owners, led in a short time to the introduction of the metal carpentry department, which works both on construction and on furniture, and then the departments of Steel, Decoration, Marble and Glass, thus offering customers an all-round collaboration.
Traditional customers are increasingly joined by the protagonists of fashion and design that are projecting Sice Previt abroad and into the future.
“The roots of the two families tell a common story of innovation, research, and enhancement of the men who have made it possible to achieve great goals. It is a gift that Arturo and I have received and that we try to pass on to future generations with the same enthusiasm.”
Arch. Monica Tonini and Ing. Arturo Caprio
“Le radici delle due famiglie raccontano una storia comune di innovazione, di ricerca, di valorizzazione degli uomini che hanno reso possibile il raggiungimento di grandi traguardi. È un dono che Arturo ed io abbiamo ricevuto e che cerchiamo di trasmettere alle generazioni future con il medesimo entusiasmo.”
Architetto Monica Tonini e Ingegner Arturo Alessandro Maria Caprio
Our philosophy
A friend one day compared the employees of Sice Previt to the tortoise of the Roman army. The tortoise was an infantry formation, designed for a squad of legionnaires, armed with the gladius and the broad, sturdy quadrangular shield. The shields were raised above the head to create a compact cover, which allowed to advance sheltering from arrows and bullets and concealing the real number of members. The legionaries could thus march up to a minimum distance from the enemy lines and, when the deployment was broken, the hand-to-hand combat began. Never was a definition more fitting and never was a compliment more welcome.
Describing Sice Previt and its corporate philosophy is not easy, what is certain is that the reason for its success is to be found in the mentality of the people who work there.
Thanks to this peculiarity, the company has overcome great challenges and earned a leadership role in the construction and furnishing of high-end stores. The legacy and all of the lessons learned are encapsulated today in the biographical books “Mano d’opera” and “A regola d’arte” available on the website. The main characteristic expressed in these books and that represents the workers of Sice Previt is honesty, towards themselves and others. Honesty as an absolute prerogative of the owners of the company since its foundation.
Create a company made of people and not only of capital and machinery. The assets of a company are the people who work there, it is people who really make the difference. This is the dream of the owners, Ing. Caprio and Arch. Tonini.
The solidity of Sice Previt also lies in its capital and its machinery. Sice Previt is a solid company, which has always reinvested in the company the profits produced by its activity, especially in the field of research and in the acquisition of latest generation machinery and equipment.