Cantieri Aeronautici e Navali Triestini

Already active in shipping and shipbuilding, they followed the same pattern by establishing first an air taxi service (SISA, 1921) and then a seaplane workshop at Monfalcone (within the existing shipyard) in 1923.

SISA trained pilots for the Regia Aeronautica (the Italian Air Force) using CANT 7 and CANT 18 biplanes; from 1926 it added airline services, using the CANT 10 and CANT 22 cabin seaplanes.

was acquired by state conglomerate IRI, and Italo Balbo persuaded Filippo Zappata, then working with Blériot, to become chief designer.

In the following nine years, CANT flew 18 new types that garnered 40 world records; it also added a landplane factory, test department, and airfield as the workforce grew from 350 to 5,000.

The Z.1018 started in wood as "flying mockup", developed as a very different wooden preseries, and metamorphosed into metal for production with bomber, torpedo-bomber, and night-fighter variants.