Thirty years of Giafra: 1996-2026
From the first construction site in 1996 to today's major public works: the story of a company that made build quality and responsibility its way of belonging to its territory.
In December 1996 a small construction company was founded in Cosenza. Thirty years later, that same company works on some of the most complex public projects in Italy. In between there are more than 250 sites, a team that has grown across generations and a way of working that has not changed: doing things properly, even when nobody is watching.
From private work to major public projects
The early years were mostly private work: renovations, residential building, the word of mouth of people who had seen a site completed on the promised date. It was on that reputation that the company built its move into public works, a sector demanding strict requirements, organisational capability and responsibility towards the community.
Today Giafra operates on four fronts: public building, restoration of protected heritage, infrastructure and residential building. Monumental restoration in particular has become a recognisable signature: working on what time has made fragile calls for expertise that cannot be improvised.
The projects that tell the story
At the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan, Giafra built the Executive areas under the 1st Orange Tier for F.C. Internazionale and A.C. Milan: a construction site inside a working stadium, with deadlines set by the match calendar.
In Calabria two projects are under way that speak of the territory: the new headquarters of the Provincial Fire Brigade Command in Cosenza, for Invitalia, on an area of about 6,643 sqm built to anti-seismic and energy efficiency standards; and the buildings of the Air Section of the Guardia di Finanza in Lamezia Terme, for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
Qualification and responsibility
Since 2003 Giafra has held SOA certification (certificate no. 69682/10/00 issued by CQOP SOA), today up to class VI for category OG1, with qualifications ranging from the restoration of protected heritage to infrastructure and technological systems.
Alongside technical qualification, a certified management system has grown that says a great deal about how the company sees its role: quality (ISO 9001), environment (ISO 14001), occupational safety (ISO 45001), social accountability (SA 8000), anti-bribery (ISO 37001), energy (ISO 50001) and gender equality (UNI/PdR 125). To these are added the 231/2001 organisation and management Model, the Code of Ethics and the Legality Rating.
The Historic Enterprise title
In October 2025 the Cosenza Chamber of Commerce awarded Giafra the title of Historic Enterprise, a recognition for companies able to cross the decades while staying rooted in their own territory. For a construction company, lasting thirty years means having come through more than one downturn without giving up its identity.
The next site is the future
Thirty years are not a finish line but a vantage point. From here you can see the open sites, the people who keep them going every day and the ones still to come. We will keep building the way we always have: convinced that work done well stands far longer than those who built it.