I am told that Ferrania closed down 2 years ago and the factory was torn down. Solaris film in Europe, which used to be Ferrania, is apparently made by Kodak. This was told to me by the owner of a company that sells a huge number of private label disposable film cameras.
The last film I bought (or one of the last ones, I still have one cardboard box) had an expiry date of December 2011, lot number MC8350 and was produced "in the E.U", which I suppose means not by Kodak. It is marked "Ferrania Technologies". I do believe this was produced in the Ferrania factory, but it could certainly have been a master roll produced one year before. Internet sources say the production of film ended in 2009 but I don't know if this is accurate as the end of film production was announced several times and then postponed thanks to public subsidies.
I deem very likely that all the Solaris Ferrania rolls available on eBay were actually produced in Ferrania, because they now appear to have disappeared, I only see those with expiry dates of 2011 - 2012.
Fabrizio
PS The firm was actually born as SIPE (
Società Italiana Produzione Esplosivi, I suppose) in 1882 as an explosive factory situated in Cengio, in the province of Savona, Liguria.
In 1916 the great increase in production of explosives required for the needs of WWI (mainly for export to Russia) led to the creation of a new factory in nearby Ferrania, a fraction of the municipality of Cairo Montenotte, in the same province of Savona.
In 1923 it changed its name into FILM,
Fabbrica italiana lamine Milano.
In 1935 it became
Fabbriche Riunite Cappelli e Ferrania.
In 1938 simply
Ferrania.
In 1964 it was bought by 3M, which sold it in 1999.
Since then its road was more or less a Calvary.