Bombrini-Parodi-Delfino (better known as BPD), was a chemical company founded in 1912 by Giovanni Bombrini and Leopoldo Parodi-Delfino to produce gunpowder and explosives. Around its location in Colleferro (south of Rome) soon grew a small town attracting manpower from the nearby farms. After World War I, BPD expanded its activities on fertilizers and cement at nearby Segni (Società Calce e Cementi). In 1938 an explosion in the gunpowder plant killed 60 people.[1] After World War II, BPD diversified into metalworking, textiles and chemistry. The last remaining owner, the Parodi-Delfino family, entered a joint venture with SNIA-Viscosa in 1968.[2] SNIA's chemical division was thereafter named SNIA BPD until BPD was sold to Simmel Difesa, when it was renamed SNIA SpA.[3]