In 2012 Taranto steel plant was at the centre of an environmental scandal that led to the arrest and conviction of some Riva family members and the transfer of the steelworks to ArcelorMittal.

The company was founded in Genoa on 1 February 1905, its namesake being the Latin name for Elba island, seat of plentiful iron ore deposits that fueled the first blast furnaces built in Italy in the late 19th century.

The new company, controlled by Genoese financers, was set up with the political and financial backing of the Italian state, in order to build the Bagnoli steel plant, as part of the 1904 law for the development of Naples, prepared by economist and later prime minister Francesco Saverio Nitti.

After the Second world war, IRI president Oscar Sinigaglia used Marshall Plan funds to rebuild and modernize SIAC steelworks in Cornigliano and merged them with Ilva in 1961, creating a new company called Italsider.

In 1965 giant Taranto integrated iron and steel complex became operational, employing 5,000 workers and adding 10.5 million tons of capacity to Italsider.

In 1984 Italsider sold SIAC to COGEA, a consortium of private steel companies dominated by Falck Group, that in turn resold it to Gruppo Riva in 1988.

[7] In 1992 Italsider, in a last attempt to reduce overcapacity and losses, closed Bagnoli steelworks in Naples In 1995 the Italian state decided to get rid of loss-making Ilva and its subsidiaries.

[12] In 2012, an investigation for environmental crimes and pollution led the Taranto prosecutor to order the seizure without the right to use the plants in the furnace area.

To safeguard the establishment and employment, the Italian government initiated the company commissioner procedure and launched an international tender for an assignment of the same.

[21][22][23][24] On 23 April 2021, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders approved the change of the company name of Am InvestCo Italy to Acciaierie di Italia Holding.