Moto Guzzi
HISTORY
A LEGEND, FOR MORE THAN NINETY YEARS
On 15 March 1921, the company "Società Anonima Moto Guzzi" was constituted in the offices of the notary Paolo Cassanello in Corso Aurelio Saffi, Genoa, for "the fabrication and sale of motorcycles, and all other activities pertinent or correlated to the metalworking and mechanical engineering industries".
The partners in the Company were the renowned Genoese ship owner Emanuele Vittorio Parodi, his son Giorgio and his friend Carlo Guzzi.
Guzzi was a former comrade of Parodi’s in the Italian Air Corps, as was another friend Giovanni Ravelli, an aviator – like Parodi – who died, however, on 11 August 1919 during a test flight.
It was in memory of this friend that the spread-winged eagle motif in the Moto Guzzi badge was chosen.
The company's first motorcycle was the legendary 8 HP Normale. This was followed by successful models such as the 1928 Guzzi G.T., dubbed “Norge” to commemorate the expedition to the Polar Arctic Circle, and the Airone 250 (1939), which remained Italy's best selling medium capacity motorcycle for over 15 years.
In the meanwhile, the marque also notched up numerous racing successes.
The first was in the prestigious Targa Florio in 1921, which marked the beginning of an impressive succession of victories: up until its withdrawal from motorsports in 1957, Moto Guzzi accumulated an enviable collection of accolades including, among other titles, an astonishing 15 world GP championships and 11 Tourist Trophies.
The years following the Second World War spawned models such as the Guzzino 65 (“Cardellino”), which was Europe's best selling motorcycle for over a decade.
