Giovan Battista Schmid held the reigns of the company firmly until his death in
1885.
The fierce legal battle that ensured between his heirs caused a long period of
instability which ended in 1889 when the firm was sold to Alfonso Nardi, an
industrialist in the glassmaking sector who worked in the Empoli district.
A few years earlier, the Ironworks had also been left without an authoritative
guide when the other pioneer of industry in Colle, Stefano Masson, died.
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Towards the end of the Nineteenth century, the whole industrial activity of
Colle was paralysed by deep recession.
There were a number of causes which went far beyond the lack of a firm leader:
failure to modernise structural and design aspects, a lack of skilled labour,
poor road and rail links and a lack of industrial enterprise among the rich
bourgeoisie of Colle who feared the uprisings which were exploding in Colle Val
d'Elsa.
In 1890 a new firm was established. Società dei Lavoranti il Vetro Verde
(Society of Green Glass Workers) - one of the first co-operatives to be set up
in Italy - produced flasks, buffet-ware and chemists' bottle.
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The green glass period did not last long.
In 1900 Arrigo Galganetti, the
industrialist from Colle who had rented the premises, converted the factory,
setting it up for the production of glass sheets; from then onwards the firm
became known as the 'Fabbrichina' (Little Factory).
