There are road infrastructures that cannot stop, not even in the face of metres of snow, blizzards and ice. The Passo del Foscagno, in the province of Sondrio, is one of them: the 42 kilometres connecting Bormio to Livigno, rising above 2,300 metres of altitude, represent the only winter road link between this well-known mountain resort and the rest of Italy. An extreme operational environment for Global Service Livigno, a company that has been managing maintenance and snow clearance on this road for over seventy years.
As part of its ongoing drive towards efficiency and innovation, the company installed, in late 2025, a monolithic reinforced fibreglass silo for road salt storage, supplied by Eurosilos Sirp. A project that goes beyond the purchase of a product, illustrating how infrastructure modernisation can make a real difference in the operational management of roads in challenging conditions such as high altitude.
Seven decades of operational know-how
Global Service Livigno has deep roots in the area. It was 1952 when Rocco Silvestri opened the road that, crossing the Passo del Foscagno, would facilitate the connection between Bormio and Livigno. Since then, the management of this stretch has remained a family mission, passed down from generation to generation along with the field expertise built up over the years: when to intervene, with which equipment, under which weather conditions. Today the company operates a high-spec fleet: all-wheel drive trucks with outputs exceeding 400 hp, fitted with snowplough blades and side wings, rotary snow blowers and self-propelled snow cutters for every type of condition. State-of-the-art gritting vehicles ensure precision spreading and environmental awareness, an increasingly important consideration for the Alta Valtellina area.
But the company’s true asset is practical knowledge. Luca Silvestri, grandson of the founder, puts it plainly: “The Passo del Foscagno is a very particular road: two mountain passes above 2,300 metres, extreme weather conditions, constant wind and frequent blizzards. Salt must be applied under specific road surface conditions and at the right temperatures in order to do its job effectively. It is not something that can be easily planned in advance — it is a technique refined over the years and continuously updated.”
For this reason, the company has developed a differentiated approach based on the characteristics of each section of road. At higher elevations, where strong winds and very low temperatures prevail, maintenance is supplemented with salt and sand mixtures to ensure grip even in conditions where pure salt would be insufficient or dispersed before it can take effect. On lower sections of the route, traditional road salt remains the primary tool. It was precisely to optimise this second phase of maintenance that Global Service Livigno assessed the transition from bag-based handling to a modern silo storage system with an auger for loading the gritting vehicles.
The salt silo as a decisive upgrade
The decision to install a dedicated silo for bulk salt storage arose from a careful analysis of operational inefficiencies. Loading vehicles from bags was hampered by speed limitations, adverse external conditions and logistical complexity. The fibreglass silo eliminates these bottlenecks. Salt is always available in bulk form, loading is carried out mechanically via the extraction auger, turnaround times are drastically reduced and waste is cut, making the operation more sustainable overall. In a context where rapid response is critical, these advantages translate directly into service effectiveness.
“The main reason for moving to a silo is operational: a robust solution that makes salt handling fast and efficient, while also reducing costs compared to bagged salt. The design, manufacturing and installation service, fully managed by Eurosilos Sirp, further simplified the adoption of this system on our end. The 2025–26 winter season, since the unit was commissioned, has been positive in every respect,” adds Luca Silvestri.
The Livigno installation features a 31 m³ monolithic reinforced fibreglass silo. This material is ideal for the application: it does not corrode in contact with salt, requires no periodic surface treatments, provides moisture-tight containment and poses no particular challenges during installation. The monolithic design, with no intermediate joints, eliminates potential infiltration points. Furthermore, every component of the system in contact with road salt is manufactured in AISI 304 stainless steel or reinforced fibreglass, ensuring long-term durability and reliability. The integrated vibrating pad and tubular auger ensure smooth, continuous extraction even with high-density materials such as road salt.
Installation details
The system installed at Livigno consists of a 31 m³ monolithic silo in appropriately reinforced fibreglass, suitable for containing road salt with a density of 1,300 kg/m³, complete with a stainless steel tubular extraction auger.
The solution belongs to Eurosilos Sirp’s industrial range, available in capacities from 3 m³ to 104 m³, designed for storing materials with particular physical and chemical characteristics — moisture sensitivity, corrosiveness, high density — that make steel alternatives unsuitable or uneconomical. Thanks to an in-house technical team, the company offers custom configurations covering capacity, dimensions, extraction systems and safety and maintenance accessories.