The History of Alfa Romeo: Milan's Sporting Car Maker Since 1910

Alfa Romeo at a glance

Darracq, Ugo Stella and the first A.L.F.A.

The French firm Darracq set up an Italian branch in Naples on 6 April 1906. It moved to Milan the same year and built a factory in the Portello district. The small Darracq cars sold poorly, and the branch went into liquidation at the end of 1909.

A group of Lombard investors bought the business in 1910, with Ugo Stella taking part in the deal. On 24 June 1910 the company was renamed A.L.F.A. Its first car, the 24-HP, was designed by Giuseppe Merosi, and Romano Cattaneo drew the badge in the same year. In 1911 the young firm sent two modified 24-HP cars to the Targa Florio in Sicily, without success.

The emblem joins two symbols of Milan. On the left is the red cross on a white field. On the right is the biscione, the crowned serpent of the Visconti family, with a human figure emerging from its mouth.

Nicola Romeo and the war years

Engineer Nicola Romeo became director of the Portello works on 4 August 1915. Italy had just entered the First World War, and the plant switched to military work. It produced 75 mm and 149 mm shells, flamethrowers, generating sets, mining equipment and aircraft engines built under licence from Isotta Fraschini. Merosi also designed air compressors known as "Il Piccolo Italiano".

Within two years Romeo's group controlled the company. The official birth act of the new firm, Società Anonima Italiana Ing. Nicola Romeo, is dated 3 February 1918. Car production restarted after the war, and the 20-30-HP of 1920 was the first road model sold under the Alfa Romeo name.

Jano, the P2 and the quadrifoglio

The four-leaf clover first appeared at the 1923 Targa Florio. Ugo Sivocci painted it on his RL, which carried the number 13, and won the race. The clover has marked Alfa's racing and fastest road cars ever since.

That year Vittorio Jano joined from Fiat, persuaded to move by Alfa's racing manager Enzo Ferrari. Jano designed the P2, which won the first world championship for manufacturers in 1925 with drivers such as Antonio Ascari and Gastone Brilli-Peri. A laurel wreath was added around the badge to mark the title.

Jano's road cars were just as important. The 6C 1500 of 1927 won the 1928 Mille Miglia, and the 6C 1750 won the race in 1929 and 1930. The supercharged 8C 2300 followed in 1931 and won the Le Mans 24 Hours four years running, from 1931 to 1934.

State ownership, Scuderia Ferrari and the Second World War

Nicola Romeo left the company in 1928. A year later Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, and his team ran Alfa Romeo's racing cars for most of the 1930s. In 1933 the Italian state took over the company through IRI, its industrial holding, after the banks that owned it failed.

During the Second World War the firm built aero engines, and its aviation division became Alfa Romeo Avio in 1941. Allied raids hit the Portello plant on 14 February and 13 August 1943. A raid on 20 October 1944 destroyed more than 60 % of the buildings. The Pomigliano d'Arco aero-engine plant near Naples lost 70 % of its facilities on 30 May 1943.

Formula One titles and the first mass-produced Alfa

Alfa Romeo returned to racing with the pre-war Alfetta. In 1950 Giuseppe Farina won the first Formula One World Championship in a 158. In 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio took the second title in the improved 159.

The 1900 of 1950 changed the company. It was Alfa's first car with a monocoque body and its first with left-hand drive. Assembly-line production began at Portello in 1952 and cut the time needed to build a car from 250 to 100 hours. By our calculation, that is a 60 % saving in labour per car.

Giulietta, Giulia and the Twin Cam

The Giulietta of 1954 brought the brand to a wider public. It used a light-alloy twin-cam four-cylinder engine, the Twin Cam, which stayed in production in different sizes until the mid-1990s. The 100,000th Giulietta was built in 1961.

The Giulia followed in June 1962, and the 1600 Spider appeared in March 1966. That roadster was later named the "Duetto" after a public competition. To keep up with demand, Alfa built a new plant at Arese, near Milan, approved in 1959 and opened in 1963. In 1966 the Giulia GTA won the first Trans-Am championship in the United States.

Alfasud, the 75 and the sale to Fiat

To bring work to southern Italy, the state formed Alfa Romeo-Alfasud in 1968. The front-wheel-drive Alfasud went into production at Pomigliano d'Arco in 1972, the first Alfa passenger car built outside Milan. The same year the word "Milano" was dropped from the badge.

On the track, the Tipo 33 won the World Championship for Makes in 1975 and the World Sportscar Championship in 1977. The business side was weaker, and the state firm lost money through the late 1970s. The rear-wheel-drive 75 of 1985 marked 75 years of the brand, and its top versions used a 3.0-litre V6. In 1986 Fiat bought Alfa Romeo, outbidding Ford, and merged it with Lancia into Alfa Lancia Industriale.

Timeline from 1910 to 2024

Landmark models that defined the brand

The modern Giulia and the earlier 156 each have their own pages: the Alfa Romeo 156 and the Giulia (952). The hatchback that revived a famous name is described in our Giulietta (940) guide.

From Fiat to Stellantis

Under Fiat the brand moved to front-wheel drive and shared platforms with other group cars. The 156 of 1997 and the 147 won European Car of the Year in 1998 and 2001. The Arese plant closed in 2003, apart from offices and the museum. In 2007 Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. became a separate company, and the 8C Competizione of 2007–2010 brought back a front-engined V8 sports car.

Fiat and Chrysler merged into FCA in 2014. The Giulia was unveiled on 24 June 2015, the 105th anniversary, with a new version of the logo, and went on sale in 2016. Its Quadrifoglio version, with a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 of 375 kW (510 PS), revived the clover on a road saloon. The Stelvio SUV followed in 2017. On 16 January 2021 FCA and PSA merged to form Stellantis. Alfa Romeo's name appeared in Formula One again from 2019 until the end of 2023, through a partnership with the Sauber team.

Model line-up and production today

The Junior was first announced as the Milano in April 2024. Its name changed within days after an Italian government minister objected that a car named after Milan should not be built in Poland. Every model we list is on the Alfa Romeo catalogue page.

Production figures show how small the brand has become. Output peaked at 213,638 cars in 2001, fell to 150,722 in 2017 and reached a low of 44,115 in 2021. It recovered to about 53,000 in 2022 and about 69,600 in 2023. Compared with 2001, the 2023 figure is roughly 67 % lower.

Our verdict: which Alfa Romeo to choose

For collectors, a Giulietta Sprint, an early Giulia or a Spider "Duetto" offers the classic Alfa mix of twin-cam engines and light handling at prices far below pre-war 6C and 8C cars. For daily driving, the Giulia is the most rewarding modern Alfa, while the Tonale and Junior suit buyers who want a compact SUV with Italian styling. To test a model against its rivals, use the comparison tool or the car finder. The link between Alfa's racing team and Ferrari is told in our history of Ferrari.