The turn of the century was an important period of consolidation for the industrial zone of Lecco. The process of evolution enabled it to demonstrate how the local system, at that time, was capable of making strategic adaptations to change.

Significant examples of entrepreneurial synergy can be seen by the base and experimental terrain of the model that characterised and continues to characterise Lecco's industry: an articulated system of small wire mills and forges with continuous exchanges, highly specialised and integrated in spite of the fragmentation of the systems, that ensure an abundant and extremely diversified production of semi-processed materials.

With the growth of the mechanical industry, at the beginning of the 20th century, the foundations were laid for intensive industrial development. The zone of Lecco experienced an outpouring of spontaneous initiatives that continued to increase and multiply, thanks to a widespread entrepreneurial spirit and contribution of skilled technicians, but above all to the entrepreneurs themselves, who were willing and able to exchange experiences.

After World War I there was a further growth of the metallurgical industry, while the mechanical industry continued to expand and define the productive trends of the area, providing a definite and autonomous outline of the local manufacturing structure.

On the one hand, the systems of primary processing of iron consolidated their fame. Some of these were large companies engaged in processing scrap iron (for example, Acciaieria e Ferriera del Caleotto and Laminatoio di Arlenico); on the other hand, a network of small and medium companies that used the rods from the new plants to produce a wide range of metal products, more and more often made to order for the clientele. Already in the twenties and thirties there was a tendency, though very hesitant at first, to see the industrial district of Lecco more as a processing district that as a product district.