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Il Biscione

The badge was drawn in 1910 by the draughtsman Romano Cattaneo while he waited for a tram at Piazza Castello in Milan. He combined two Milanese symbols — and they have not left the bonnet since.

An original 1933 Alfa Romeo badge on a car's grille: the Milanese cross, the Visconti serpent and the laurel wreath
The 1395 coat of arms of the House of Visconti with the biscione serpent
Visconti · 1395
Badge from a car of 1933 Photo: Brian Snelson · CC BY 2.0

The red cross

The arms of Milan — the cross of Saint George, carried by Milanese crusaders. It has held the left half since 1910.

The Visconti serpent

The biscione — arms of the Visconti dynasty who ruled Milan. The common reading is that the serpent is swallowing a man; a Milanese telling holds that it is giving birth to a new one. Alfa has never chosen between the two.

The laurel wreath, 1925

Added after the P2 won the first World Manufacturers' Championship. It was removed in the 1972 redesign, when the badge was simplified.

One name, two eras

Until 1918 the lettering read A.L.F.A. Nicola Romeo took over the factory during the First World War, and from 1920 the ring reads Alfa Romeo.