Alfieri Maserati needed a badge for his first car. His brother Mario, the artist of the family, found it on Neptune's statue in Bologna's Piazza Maggiore.
- Country
-
Italy - Active
- Since 1914
- Founded by
- Alfieri Maserati, with his brothers Ettore and Ernesto
- Website
- Official website ↗
A workshop on Via de’ Pepoli
Before there was a trident, there was a small workshop in the centre of Bologna. Alfieri Maserati and his brothers Ettore and Ernesto set up Ditta Alfieri Maserati at Via de’ Pepoli 1A, and the firm officially began operations on 1 December 1914. The business declaration was filed with the city two weeks later, on 14 December.
The name needs no detective work. It is simply the family name, and Alfieri’s first name sat in front of it. Cars of their own came later. The first was the Tipo 26, which debuted at the Targa Florio in Sicily on 25 April 1926 and won its class with Alfieri at the wheel. Maserati calls it the first car ever to bear the Trident on its bonnet.
Alfieri died in 1932, and his brother Bindo joined the company that same year. Five years later, on 1 May 1937, the industrialist Adolfo Orsi became owner of Officine Alfieri Maserati and of the Fabbrica Candele Maserati, the spark plug business. The Orsi family moved the company to Modena, where the Viale Ciro Menotti plant officially opened its doors on 1 January 1940. The brothers stayed on until 1947, then left. Maserati has been a Modena company ever since.
Owners come and go, the badge stays
Few badges have survived so many changes of ownership. Citroen owned Maserati from 1968 to 1975, then Alejandro de Tomaso took over until 1993, the era that produced the Biturbo. Fiat bought the company in 1993, handed it to Ferrari as a subsidiary in September 1997, and took it back under direct Fiat Group control in 2005. Today Maserati is part of Stellantis, which provides direction and coordination for the company, and the headquarters remain at Viale Ciro Menotti 322 in Modena.
Neptune’s trident, borrowed from Piazza Maggiore
The logo was drawn by Mario Maserati, the fifth-born brother and the one more interested in art than in cars. When Alfieri needed a badge for the Tipo 26, he asked Mario, who looked to the statue of Neptune at the end of Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore, the Fountain of Neptune. The god’s trident became the symbol. According to Maserati, it was a symbol of his strength and vigour, and Neptune’s other title, Tamer of Horses, gave the badge a neat link to horsepower and racing.
The first badge of 1926 was rectangular and made of pure silver, with a black trident on a white background. In 1931 the shape changed to an oval. Maserati gives two possible reasons: the curved radiators of the time, or the elliptical section of the tubes used in Grand Prix chassis. Over the decades the drawing became less complex and more stylised, but the three prongs never went away.
A second badge grew up beside the main one. The Saetta, a trident underlined by a thunderbolt, sits on the C-pillars of Maserati’s cars, a tradition the company dates back to 1963. There is also a popular story that a Bolognese nobleman, the Marquis Diego de Sterlich, suggested using Neptune’s trident. It is repeated widely, but it does not appear on Maserati’s own logo page, which credits Alfieri’s request and Mario’s pencil.
The 2020 trident: satin, not chrome
On 9 September 2020, at the Modena Circuit, Maserati held an event called MMXX, Time to be Audacious. It was the world premiere of the MC20 supercar and, in Maserati’s words, the reveal of its completely renewed identity. The logo that came with it was drawn in-house at Maserati Centro Stile. The side prongs of the trident were rounded and the spacing between the trident and its background adjusted, which Maserati said gave greater balance and a more dynamic effect. The C-pillar badge lost its oval frame and its lightning bolt. The Maserati wordmark on the tail was simplified, and both trident and script gained a satin finish instead of glossy chrome, a high-tech effect that Maserati said evokes polished aluminium.
Bologna’s colours, then one fewer
The blue and red in the classic Maserati badge are, according to the company, the colours of the city of Bologna, where the trident came to life. The 2020 identity thinned that palette. Red was dropped, leaving white and a deep, lacquered shade the company calls Maserati Blue. So the badge on a modern Maserati is two-tone, not three.
What the trident has been bolted to
Maserati spent its first decades as a racing firm and only turned to road cars for good after the war. The badge has been on Formula 1 winners, grand tourers, a four-door saloon and, since 2016, an SUV.
Landmark Maseratis, decade by decade
- 1926: Tipo 26. The first car to carry the Trident, a class winner at the Targa Florio with Alfieri Maserati driving.
- 1947: A6 1500. The road car introduced the year the brothers left; about 60 A6s were built in Modena up to 1950.
- 1957: 3500 GT. Debuted at the Geneva show in the same year Juan Manuel Fangio took his second Formula 1 title in a Maserati 250F.
- 1963: Quattroporte. The first of the four-door Maseratis; 762 of the Tipo 107 were built between 1963 and 1969.
- 1966: Ghibli. Its design guidelines were set in 1966 and the car debuted at the Turin Motor Show.
- 2016: Levante. The brand’s first SUV.
- 2020: MC20. The supercar that introduced the new logo, powered by the Nettuno V6 and built at Viale Ciro Menotti.
Maserati shares the Modena area with Ferrari, its owner for eight years and its neighbour for far longer, and shares a group with Alfa Romeo and Lancia inside Stellantis. For more on how badges like the trident are put together, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Maserati logo mean?
It is the trident of Neptune, taken from the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore. According to Maserati it was a symbol of the god’s strength and vigour, and Neptune’s title of Tamer of Horses ties it to racing.
Who designed the Maserati trident?
Mario Maserati, the fifth-born of the brothers and the artist of the family. Alfieri asked him for a badge for the Tipo 26, which raced for the first time in April 1926.
Why is the Maserati logo blue and red?
Maserati says they are the colours of Bologna, the city where the brand and the trident were born. Since the 2020 redesign the badge uses only white and Maserati Blue.
What is the Saetta on a Maserati?
The small trident underlined by a thunderbolt on the C-pillars. Maserati dates the tradition to 1963. Since 2020 the pillar badge has been drawn without its oval frame and lightning bolt.
When did the Maserati logo last change?
On 9 September 2020, with the launch of the MC20 in Modena. The trident’s side prongs were rounded, the wordmark was simplified, the pillar badge lost its lightning bolt and the finish went from glossy chrome to satin.
Spark plugs, Neptune and the Tipo 26
- Founded
- 1914
- Founder
- Alfieri Maserati, with his brothers Ettore and Ernesto
- Country
- Italy
- Headquarters
- Modena, Italy
- Parent company
- Stellantis
- Current emblem
- Neptune's trident on an oval badge, in white and Maserati Blue since the 2020 redesign
- Known for
- Italian grand tourers, supercars and the trident badge
- Website
- Official website ↗
