An illustrator looked up at a Milan castle tower, saw a serpent, and gave Alfa Romeo its badge. More than a century later, the cross and the Biscione are still there.
- Country
-
Italy - Active
- Since 1910
- Founded by
- Ugo Stella (A.L.F.A.), Nicola Romeo
- Website
- Official website ↗
Four letters from Milan
Alfa Romeo began life with a name that was really an abbreviation. On 24 June 1910 a new company was founded in Milan as A.L.F.A., short for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. According to Alfa Romeo New Zealand, a group of businessmen had bought the Italian branch of the French carmaker Darracq to create it.
The factory sat in Milan’s Portello district. Its first car was the 24 HP, designed by Giuseppe Merosi, an engineer from Piacenza. Then the First World War arrived, and with it a new man. In December 1915 the company of Nicola Romeo, an entrepreneur from Naples, acquired the Portello plant. Romeo added his own name, and A.L.F.A. became Alfa Romeo.
A sketch at a tram stop
The badge came from a friendship. Alfa Romeo credits the idea to a young illustrator, Romano Cattaneo, a close friend of Merosi. Looking up at the Castello Sforzesco, Cattaneo noticed the Biscione Visconteo, the great serpent on the castle’s main tower. According to Alfa Romeo New Zealand, the moment came while he was waiting for a tram.
Cattaneo and Merosi sketched several versions. The one that won paired the Biscione on one side with the emblem of the City of Milan on the other: a red cross on a white background. Around them ran a ring with ALFA at the top and MILANO at the bottom, separated by two Savoy knots, the knots of Italy’s royal house.
A city’s cross and a family’s serpent
Strip away the lettering and the meaning is simple. The badge is Milan. Alfa Romeo describes it as two symbols of the city side by side: the municipal red cross and the serpent of the Visconti family. The core design has stayed largely the same for more than a century. What changed was everything around it.
According to the timeline published by Alfa Romeo New Zealand, the first car to carry the revised ring reading ALFA-ROMEO MILANO appeared in 1920. In 1925 a golden laurel wreath was wrapped around the badge to celebrate victory in the first World Championship, a detail the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo also records. In 1946, with the badge-making machinery destroyed in the war, a single-colour red version was used. Full colour returned in 1950, after Italy had become a republic, and the royal Savoy knots were replaced by two wavy lines.
In 1972 Alfa Romeo opened its Alfasud plant at Pomigliano d’Arco, near Naples. That same year, MILANO and the wavy lines were dropped from the badge. Alfa Romeo New Zealand says the next step came in 1982: the laurel wreath went, the badge grew larger, the serpent was simplified and the name was set in the Futura typeface.
So what is that figure in the serpent’s mouth? Nobody at Alfa Romeo has given a formal answer in the sources we checked. A popular theory says the serpent is swallowing a man, often described as a Moor from the time of the Crusades. Another reading says it is a child being born from the serpent’s mouth. Both are interpretations of the old Visconti arms, and neither appears in Alfa Romeo’s own story of its badge.
Chrome, red and a four-leaf clover
The badge you see on today’s cars was unveiled on 24 June 2015, the brand’s 105th birthday, at the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese near Milan. It was designed by Robilant Associati and made its debut on the new Giulia. Alfa Romeo kept the shapes and symbols and modernised the rest. According to Alfa Romeo New Zealand, each element now has its own colour, the background has a pyramid texture and two shades of grey give a three-dimensional effect. Italian sources note that chrome replaced the gold finish that had been used since the 1970s.
There is a second emblem, and it has its own legend. The Quadrifoglio, a green four-leaf clover, first appeared on Ugo Sivocci’s Alfa Romeo RL at the 1923 Targa Florio, painted on as a lucky charm. Sivocci won. After he was killed testing a new car, the clover was placed inside a triangle. In Stellantis’s own telling, the missing point symbolises the loss of Sivocci. It still marks the brand’s high-performance models.
Racing cars that wore the serpent
The Alfa Romeo Museum describes the brand as racing at heart. You can trace that in the cars that carried the badge, from Milan’s first factory to the circuits.
Landmark Alfa Romeos, decade by decade
- 1910: 24 HP. The first A.L.F.A., designed by Giuseppe Merosi.
- 1923: RL TF. Ugo Sivocci won the Targa Florio in it, and it was the first car to carry the Quadrifoglio.
- 1925: P2. Won the first World Automobile Championship, the victory that put a laurel wreath around the badge.
- 1950: 1900. Debuted at the Paris Motor Show as the first Alfa Romeo produced on a large scale.
- 1950: Tipo 158 “Alfetta”. Won the first Formula 1 World Championship with Nino Farina.
- 1955: Giulietta Berlina. Made its debut at the Turin Motor Show.
- 2015: Giulia. Unveiled at the Arese museum as the first car to wear the redesigned badge.
In 1986 Alfa Romeo joined the Fiat Group, and today it is part of Stellantis, alongside Italian sister brands such as Maserati, Lancia and Abarth. Curious how other makers turned civic symbols into badges? See how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Alfa Romeo logo mean?
It combines two symbols of Milan, where the company was founded in 1910: the red cross on a white background, the emblem of the City of Milan, and the Biscione, the serpent of the Visconti family.
Who designed the Alfa Romeo badge?
According to Alfa Romeo, the idea came from the illustrator Romano Cattaneo, a friend of engineer Giuseppe Merosi. He was inspired by the serpent on the main tower of Milan’s Castello Sforzesco, and the two men developed the design together.
What does A.L.F.A. stand for?
Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. Romeo was added after the Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo took over the company during the First World War.
When did Alfa Romeo get its current logo?
On 24 June 2015, the brand’s 105th birthday. The redesign by Robilant Associati kept the cross and the serpent and was unveiled on the new Giulia at the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese.
What is the four-leaf clover on some Alfa Romeos?
That is the Quadrifoglio. It was first painted on Ugo Sivocci’s RL at the 1923 Targa Florio as a lucky charm, and it now marks Alfa Romeo’s highest performance models.
The Biscione at a glance
- Founded
- 1910
- Founder
- Ugo Stella (A.L.F.A.), Nicola Romeo
- Country
- Italy
- Parent company
- Stellantis
- Current emblem
- Milan's red cross beside the Visconti serpent in a ring, redesigned in 2015
- Known for
- Sporting Italian cars and the Quadrifoglio
- Website
- Official website ↗
