Re: Quadrifoglio emblem (was quote without comment)

[James Bratek <james_bratek@domain.elided>]

> In Italian, Quadrifoglio means four leaf clover. How the four leaved clover
> became associated with Alfa, I don't know. I seem to remember reading that
> it is associated with the company's racing heritage. I'm sure a more
> historically astute alfista will embellish.
> 
> John Paradiso 


An excerpt from David Styles' "Alfa Romeo: The Spirit of Milan":

It had been said on many occassions and in many places that the Quadrifoglio
emblem originated from Giuseppe Merosi's design of the earliest chassis
plates: small plates fitted to every chassis built to identify the car by
number. That may be so, but the design on every early chassis plate I have
seen depicts a symbolic plant which looks much more like a rose than a
four-leaf clover. Looking closely at the chassis plate, you can distinguish
on either side of the name 'Alfa' a series of leaves, then a single stem, at
the end of which is a leaf or flower with five leaves or petals.
Furthermore, the 1923 Targa Florio seems to have been the first major event
at which the emblem appeared on Alfa Romeo's racing cars.

There is a more credible tale of the Quadrifoglio, which begins with a
garden party after an early race. Piera Romeo (Nicola Romeo's daughter) and
Daniella Maestri-Romeo (a granddaughter of Nicola Romeo) related the story
of a garden party where, after an Alfa Romeo victory, the subject of a good
luck charm came under discussion. Children at the party who were playing on
the lawn picked a four-leafed clover. It was drawn to the attention of the
group in conversation and there it was -- the Alfa Romeo good luck emblem.
Nicola Romeo seized on it, and thenceforth had it painted (mostly) inside a
white triangle on all his racing cars. It even survived a couple of years
after Scuderia Ferrari took over the racing activities of Alfa Romeo.

... in the 1970s, when Autodelta was running Alfa Romeo's racing activities,
the Quadrifoglio often appeared on cars without the triangular background,
giving emphasis to the Autodelta emblem, which it accompanied. There is a
clear example of this on the engine air intake of the Alfa 33s raced in the
1970s.


Jim
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