Today the productive field of Colle Val d'Elsa consists of several kinds of firms, whose production of crystal objects is either automatic or semi-automatic but the only firm that still follows artisan procedures is the Vilca.
To keep up with the rising automation of the processing of crystal, maintaining an excellent quality-price relation of its products, Vilca has decided not to substitute manual dexterity with machineries. In front of perfect products realized through sophisticated machineries, and in order to survive, manual production of crystal had both to create perfect products and to direct its efforts towards artistic handicraft aiming to a rediscovery of hand-made products.
This choice made it possible for Vilca to remain competitive, creating its own niches of market.
Nowadays in the Colligian panorama, among all the industries, Vilca is the one with the strongest artisan vocation.
Its history originates from the Boschi's shutdown as it happened for all the other factories in Colle Val d'Elsa.
In 1947 the Brothers Franco and Mario Brogi, already esteemed craftsmen in Colle, started a trip around Italian and European glass works during which they tested many kinds of expressions in crystal and compared their own experiences with other big European firms.
Franco went to the Waterford, in Ireland, while Mario changed 9 firms between 1950 and 1961 between Tuscany, Milan and Switzerland where he found a job in the Glass Fabrik Sigeuart.
In 1962 they got the chance to express their skills in their own country of origin: this was due to the failure of a crystal factory named Salc and which was bought by the Brogi Brogi in association with two other friends.
The new crystal factory was renamed VILCA.
The new factory started its activity inside the town, in the shed of the former failed glass factory. In 1967 the building where the actual Vilca is currently located was bought by auction in the area of Gracciano.
The purchase of the building required anther partner who put in advance the money to buy the shed.
The building was so equipped as to let them start immediately the activity: it contained 3 stoves and there were 80 employees.
Almost all of them were young and 2 who used to work at that time as apprentices, are still working in the factory. In 1971 inside Vilca several protests of the workers were raised, which led to the occupation of the factory and its shutdown.
On August 27th 1971 Vilca succeeded in restarting its activity, with 26 employees. Yet they didn't want bygones to be bygones, on the contrary they wanted to preserve their own identity, gained in 10 years of work.
In addition to that the change of name would have caused problems under the business point of view, that is why the new society was named "Nuova Vilca"("New Vilca").
On the other hand it changed its partnership structure: its members were 3: the 2 Brogi brothers and a new member, a glass worker as well.
In the years to follow another member joined. Between 1974 and 1984, two of the four members left the society, so that the factory remained completely in the hands of Brogi brothers.
In 1985 Franco Brogi died and the condition of the factory became more and more difficult: 2 milliards of debts, 60 employees and just one owner: Mario Brogi.
Other crystal factories in Colle Val d'Elsa absorbed half of those employees but difficulties were still numerous and the shadow of failure still impended over it.
Vilca was not only a source of income for Mario Brogi: the Calp had proposed to buy Vilca, still guaranteeing a job in the factory both for Mario and Giampiero, Franco's son.
But Mario Brogi wanted to prove to himself that he would have succeeded by himself to pull the Vilca out of its crisis. The pride to continue in that almost impossible condition became a sort of challenge especially to prove to those who had attributed the success of Vilca only to the invested capitals, throwing in the shade the effort of those who worked and believed in the factory.
The bet was won, his devotion for the factory was too deep to let it slip away.
In the management of the factory Giampiero Brogi was involved and thanks to the efforts of its employees, Vilca succeeded to overcome its crisis.
After Mario Brogi's death Giampiero and his cousin Patrizia held the reins of the factory.
Although many years have passed since Vilca's foundation, it remains one of the few Italian factories which preserves and hands down artisan tradition of crystal processing and still produces all its articles inside its establishments.
