Alfa Romeo will celebrate 115 years in business on 24 June, and to mark this milestone, the Italian brand has incorporated ‘115’ into a special edition design of its famous logo.
The contemporary design, said to combine the past, present and future, dispenses with the Milan crest and dark blue surround altogether, and instead features the famous ‘Biscione’ snake slithering its way through the number ‘5’ on the diagonally ascending ‘115’ that dominates the new design. As well as being a logistical necessity, the use of black for the numbers and a deep red for the Biscione snake are said to represent “the brand’s identity, defined by passion, sportiness, and Italian style.”
The logo will be used at official Alfa Romeo events throughout the course of 2025, with the brand also stating the new logo is available for use by fans and official clubs worldwide for local “events and rallies, and in dedicated materials and local initiatives.”
A Brief History Of The Alfa Romeo Crest
Shortly after the company’s foundation on 24 June 1910, Italian illustrator Romano Cattaneo, a friend of Giuseppe Merosi, Alfa’s first chief engineer, was drawn by a Biscione Visconteo, the official symbol of the Visconti family that dominated Milan during the 12th century on the side of the Filarete Tower in Castello Sforzesco whilst he was waiting for a tram. Cattaneo then suggested that the Biscione snake (sometimes wrongly believed to be a dragon, given the flaying Saracen soldier, defeated during the Christian Crusades, in its mouth) be incorporated into the logo for the new Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili company.
Logo Redesign
To really hammer home A.L.F.A’s Milanese origins, Cattaneo and Merosi split the crest into two halves, with one side (right) showcasing the snake, and the other the City of Milan emblem (left). For added punch, a blue ‘crown’ was drawn around the segmented halves, and, paying tribute to both Italian heraldry and the House of Savoy dynasty, two Savoy knots were included between ‘ALFA’ at the top and ‘Milano’ at the bottom. So taken was A.L.F.A’s first managing director ‘Cavalier’ Ugo Stella by the design, he requested a definitive version be used on the company’s first car: 24 HP of 1910.
“The Biscione Snake is sometimes wrongly believed to be a dragon, given the flaying Saracen soldier in its mouth.”
In 1920, Neopolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo joined as co-owner, and his name (now in slightly more linear text), was added alongside ‘Alfa’ where it has remained ever since. To celebrate the company’s first-ever World Championship win in 1925, a laurel crown was embossed over the now-enlarged blue diameter ring, and in 1932, the dash between ‘Alfa’ and ‘Romeo’ was replaced with a third Savoy knot. However, as a monarchal symbol, these would be removed in tribute to the now-Republican Italy during the Second World War. In their place? Two wavy lines, which were only removed in 1972.
A simplified, all-red logo (with gold relief) was briefly used during the war owing to Alfa’s original printing press being destroyed, but this was quickly rehashed with a return to full color in 1950. More gold accenting would be incorporated during the 1960s, and only when Alfa’s production moved to Pomigliano d’Arco near Naples during the 1970s was ‘Milano’ finally removed. The outer laurel wreath was also binned in 1982, and the logo, now almost completely accented in gold and with a racier new, Pino Tovaglia-designed Biscione snake, would stay untouched for 33 years until parent company Stellantis commissioned a more modern design, complete with textured background, silver rather than gold accenting, and, finally, no divide between the Milan crest and the Biscione. Surprise surprise, it was unveiled in 2015 on June 24.
A “Series” Of Anniversaries
Though seemingly random, the unveiling of a special edition logo two months ahead of time coincides with several notable Alfa Romeo anniversaries, the most significant of which are the brand’s first win at the famed Mille Miglia on 12-13 April 1930, and Alfa’s dominance of the Targa Florio on 15 April 1923. The Mille Miglia, in particular, is noted, as this was the first win at the event for then-Alfa Romeo factory driver Tazio Nuvolari – considered by many to be the greatest pre-war Grand Prix driver of them all – and co-driver Giovanni Battista Guidotti aboard Alfa’s 6C 1750 Gran Sport. The ‘Flying Mantuan’ made history in 1930 by becoming the first driver to compete in the near-1,000-mile Milla Miglia at an average speed of more than 100 MPH.
At the Targa Florio seven years earlier, meanwhile, Italy’s Ugo Sivocci led home a 1-2-3-4 for Alfa Romeo aboard an RL TF, marking the first time the celebrated ‘Quadrifoglio’ cloverleaf would be used on an Alfa Romeo.
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