Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (), more usually referred to simply as Breda, was an Italian mechanical manufacturing company founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886.

History

The firm was founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. It originally manufactured

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s and other railway machinery, but later branched out into

armaments A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

and

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. Occasionally, not continuously, the company also built

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es. In 1935, it acquired the railway division of Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali and, soon afterwards, the aircraft division of the same company. Breda-designed machine guns such as the Breda Model 30 and Breda Model 37 were standard issue weapons for the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

during the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Italy against Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Ita ...

, the

Italian Invasion of Albania The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by Fascist Italy, Italy against Albanian Kingdom (1928–1939), Albania in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...

and

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

. At the peak of its wartime production, the company had 26,000 employees. By 1954, its workforce had been reduced to around 8,000. In 1962, Breda was nationalised as part of EFIM, but was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

in the 1990s. The train and tram manufacturing division fused with

Ansaldo Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company based in Genoa, Italy. The original parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., was founded in 1853, and merged with Finmeccanica in 1993 (now Leonardo S.p.A.). In 2024, the company's share ...

to form

AnsaldoBreda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

, the armaments division became an independent entity as

Breda Meccanica Bresciana Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

, as did the research division as Istituto Scientifico Breda.

Products

Aircraft products

* A.2 * A.4 * A.7 * A.8 * A.9 * A.10 * A.14 * Ba.15 * Ba.19 * CC.20 * Ba.25 * Ba.26 * Ba.27 * Ba.28 * Ba.32 * Ba.33 * Ba.39 * Ba.42 * Ba.44 * Ba.46 * Ba.64 * Ba.65 * Ba.75 * Ba.79S * Ba.82 * Ba.88 * Ba.92 * Ba.201 * Ba.205 * BP.471 * BZ.308 * BZ.309 *

Tebaldi-Zari The Tebaldi-Zari was an Italian fighter prototype of 1919. The Breda company later acquired the rights to it. Design and development An engineer named Tebaldi designed the Tebaldi-Zari, which was a single-seat wooden sesquiplane with heavily st ...

Rolling stock products

Locomotives

South African Class 15CA 4-8-2 {{Infobox locomotive , name = South African Class 15CA 4-8-2 , image = SAR Class 15CA 2802 (4-8-2).JPG , alt = , caption = No. 2802 at Esselen Park, 21 September 2009 , hatnote = ♠ Wit ...

SEK class Μα SEK or Sek may refer to: Organisations * Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (''Schweizerischer Evangelischer Kirchenbund'') * SEK Studio, a North Korean animation studio * Stagecoach in East Kent, a transportation company in England * SEK (Ge ...

* E.330 * D.341 * D.345 * D.443 * E.424 * E.428 * E.636 *

HŽ series 1061 Croatian Railways (, HŽ) was the national railway company of Croatia. It was a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78. The Croatian rail network carried 24.230 million passengers in 2023. His ...

DMU and EMU

ETR 200 The ETR 200 (for ''" Elettro Treno Rapido 200"'', in Italian meaning "Rapid Electric Train ''series'' 200") is an Italian electric multiple unit (EMU) introduced in 1936. On 20 July 1939 the ETR 200 number 12 obtained the world record average spee ...

* ETR 240 *

ETR 300 The ETR 300, also known as "Settebello-type" for its use on the former ''Settebello'' train service, is a type of Italian fast electric multiple unit (EMU) trainset formerly operated by Ferrovie dello Stato. Nock, O.S. (1978). "The Settebello: sp ...

* FNM Class E.750

Metro

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

2000-Series, 3000-Series, 4000-series *

Breda A650 The A650 is an electric multiple unit rapid transit (known locally as a subway) car built for use on the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The cars were manufactured by the Italian company Breda at its Pistoia plant in Italy between 1988 and 1997 an ...

Tram and light rail

ATM Class 1500 The ATM Class 1500, also known as ''type 1928'', is a series of tram vehicles used by the ATM on the Milan urban tramway network. History In the 1920s, the increasing traffic on the Milan urban tramway network made pressing the substitution ...

* ATM Class 4600 and 4700 * LRVs for

RTA Rapid Transit RTA Rapid Transit (generally known as The Rapid) is a rapid transit and light rail system owned and operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). The system serves Cleveland and surrounding areas in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, ...

(Cleveland) *

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

Green Line Type 8 (production continued after merger) * LRV2 and LRV3 for

Muni Metro Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni's light rail lines saw an aver ...

(San Francisco)

Trolleybuses

The production of

es was a small part of Breda's output, carried out through its subsidiary ''Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie'' ( it), and was not under way continuously. Between 1936 and 1940, the company built a total of 28 trolleybuses, most for the Rome system but including six for

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. At various times between 1938 and 1956, more trolleybuses were built, but totalling only 16. Production resumed in 1988. Almost all of Breda's customers for trolleybuses were Italian trolleybus systems, but a notable exception was an order of 236

dual-mode bus A dual-mode bus is a bus that can run independently on power from two different sources, typically electricity from overhead lines like a trolleybus or from batteries like a hybrid bus, alternated with conventional fossil fuel (generally diesel ...

es that Breda built for the Seattle system between 1988 and 1991.

References

External links

Treccani.it BREDA, Ernesto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breda, Societa Italiana Ernesto AnsaldoBreda Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Milan Italian brands Manufacturing companies of Italy Trolleybus manufacturers Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Italy Manufacturing companies established in 1886 Italian companies established in 1886 Conglomerate companies of Italy Bus manufacturers of Italy Electric vehicle manufacturers of Italy