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Before starting telling the history of one of the best brand which makes Italy famous in all the world, we’ll try to answer at the question: “why the iconic “Prancing Horse” became the maximum expression of “Made in Italy”? What make it one of the symbol of italiannes, recognized in every foreign country?
The answer let us know how much the Brand Ferrari is a brand that, since 1929, has been capable to enclose and summarize all the characterizing elements of our luxury products: quality, style, refinement and elegance.
When we thinking about “Ferrari”, indeed, we think immediately to the italian’s style value and peculiarities : in short, is becoming one of the symbol of the italiannes.
That’s not all.
“Ferrari” has been capable to reach , in the ages, the role of the brand that doesn’t have only a part in Italian’s history but also of the sports, economic and social history.
Let’s go now over this Car company’s fundamental principles starting since 1929, when Enzo Ferrari found in Modena, his hometown, the “Scuderia Ferrari”.
Scuderia Ferrari Formula One
“Scuderia Ferrari” was founded in Modena in 1929 by Enzo Ferrari, the man who, from that year, is becoming one of the undisputed protagonist of the last century’s automotive history.
But how started his history? What led Enzo Ferrari to become the founder of a brand that is integral part of the or country’s history?
Engines have always been present in Enzo Ferrari’s life and was probably the destiny that made him assume, at the end of the First World War, to the “CMN” (National Mechanical Engineering), a small Milanese automobile factory.
What was Enzo Ferrari’s role?
In addition to work in the workshop, the young of the Modena had a very specific role: to conduct driving tests.
Thanks ot this role, Enzo Ferrari became an experienced driver, developing a strong passion for engines and automobiles: we are in 1919 and, at only 21 years old, participates, in Sicily, at the most important car race of the time (the “Targa Florio”), winning the ninth position.
Starting from that moment the life of young Ferrari is bounded to the racing cars.
In 1920 race with Alfa Romeo, again with “Targa Florio” and with a new car presented by scuderia milanese.
This time Enzo Ferrari is positioned second, starting to take his first steps in a long journey studded with successes that began in 1923, when he won the first edition of the Grand Prix of the Circuito del Savio, in Ravenna.
It’s in this year that born the legendary “Prancing Horse” the icon becoming one of the Italiannes’ icon of the world.
But where does your story originate from, so simple as it is fascinating?
We are in 1923, Enzo Ferrari has just won the Grand Prix of the Circuito del Savio when he meets Count Enrico Baracca and his wife, Countess Paolina.
The famous black “Prancing Horse” was painted on the fuselage of Francesco Baracca’s plane, an hero of the Italian’s aviation of the First World War, fallen on Montello during the war.
It was the Countess Paolina, mother of the deceased aviator, who entrusted Enzo Ferrari with the symbol that was of the son as a lucky charm for his upcoming car competitions.
Since that the “Prancing Horse” is indissolubly bounded to the name of Ferrari.
The symbol was redesigned in the 1945 by the young engraver Eligio Gerosa: changes were made to the tail of the horse (that of the Baracca was downwards) and was added as a background the canary yellow, one of the colors of the city of Modena.
Two years later, Eligio Gerosa also designed the official logo of the team, making the “Prancing Horse” slimmer and more proportionate than the original.
The wish of Countess Paolina was realized: in 1924 Enzo Ferrari won the Acerbo Cup in Pescara.
But it’s at this point that the life of the Modenese Ferrari undergoes an event that will change its existence forever.
Prancing Horse: a symbol of Ferrari
After he abbandoned the pilot career for a strong nervous breakdown forced him to come back to Modena, Enzo Ferrari, completely healed, was summoned in Milan with the aim of founding a specialized workshop in mechanical and technical assistance for Alfa Romeo racing cars.
It born, so, the Scuderia Ferrari that, in a short tome, become a a known and successful reality, thanks to the participation in numerous car competitions.
In 1933, when Alfa Romeo is forced to retreat for an economic crisis, Scuderia Ferrari become the “heir” to its sports image.
The Scuderia Ferrari’s success attracted many famous pilots of the time: as Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi, Giuseppe Campari and René Dreyfus.
The turning point in the entrepreneurial career of Enzo Ferrari came in 1939, when he founded in his hometown the “Auto Avio Costruzioni” and starts to build his own cars.
The transfer to Maranello, in the province of Modena, occurred in 1943 to escape the risk of possible bombing on the main cities of Emilia-Romagna: but the company was not exempt from air strikes and, both in 1944 and in 1945, was hit from attacks by enemy aircraft.
In 1947, after the end of the Second World War, Enzo Ferrari founded the homonymous car manufacturer and, in the same year, the first race car was built under the “Prancing Horse” brand: the Sport 125, brought for the first time in race by Franco Cortese.
The first road model, the Inter 166, was instead presented in 1949 at the Paris Motor Show.
With these first two models of cars, Ferrari begins its history in the race for success.
Enzo Ferrari
The first single-seater Ferrari racing car was the 125 C. which, on September 5, 1948, made its debut at the Italian Grand Prix driven by Raymond Sommer, the French driver who won the third place.
The Scuderia Ferrari made its debut in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, participating in the Monaco Grand Prix, where it came second thanks to the driver Alberto Ascari who, in the same season, won the first Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s first Formula 1 victory took place in 1951 at the Grand Prix of Great Britain with the Argentine car driver José Froilàn Gonzàles: a very important event for the history of the Scuderia, since he triumphed on the Alfa Romeo, the Ferrari “mother” car company.
From that moment on, in fact, began the decline of the Alfa Romeo and the rise of Ferrari: an event that strongly marks the life of Enzo.
The Milanese carmaker, in fact, retired definitively from car racing to devote himself exclusively to the production of cars for road traffic.
The first Formula 1 World Title came in 1952 thanks to the Milanese driver Alberto Ascari and his F2 500.
Ferrari red
From that moment the success of the Scuderia Ferrari was unstoppable: with Enzo Ferrari still alive, the car manufacturer won no less than 9 World Championships and 8 constructors World Championships, starting a story that is the pride of Italian history and emblem of Italian excellence.
Read also: The evolution of the Bulgari brand, a success story
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