Enzo Ferrari - The man who created the legend Part 1 of 4:
Introduction - The beginning of a legend
Ferrari - a brand that today stands for speed, passion, technical perfection and Italian elegance. But behind the world-famous Cavallino Rampante (the prancing horse) is a man whose life is as dramatic, contradictory and fascinating as the engines that carried his name around the world: Enzo Anselmo Ferrari.
In this first part of our three-part series, we take a deep dive into the early years of this extraordinary man who came from the humblest of backgrounds and, with unwavering ambition, strategic thinking and an almost religious devotion to speed, founded Scuderia Ferrari - arguably the most legendary racing team in automotive history.
We illuminate:
Enzo's childhood and youth in Modena
His formative experiences in the First World War
A career as a racing driver at Alfa Romeo
The founding of Scuderia Ferrari in 1929
The road to independence and the construction of the first real Ferrari in 1947
And rarely told details that will surprise even die-hard Ferrari.
1 The roots of the myth: childhood and youth in Modena
1.1 The birth of a dreamer - Enzo Ferrari's early years between steam, steel and desire
Image source: Enzo Ferrari happy at the wheel. Wikipedia, unknown author.
Modena, February 18, 1898 - a city where the heart of Italy beats in stone and steel. Industrial progress is still in its infancy, but amidst steaming locomotives, the metallic sound of forging hammers and the sound of old church bells, a boy is born who is to revolutionize the world of motorsport. His name: Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari. A name that would become one of the most glamorous legends in automotive history in the decades to come - but there was no sign of that on this cold winter morning.
A home on the move: The Ferrari family
Enzo's father, Alfredo Ferrari, was not a man of great wealth, but one with ambition and technical understanding. He ran a small mechanical workshop - Officina Meccanica Ferrari - which produced axles and other metal parts for the Italian railroads. This workshop was more than just a workplace - it was a place where Enzo's early world view was formed. Even as a child, he watched with fervent curiosity as metal was cut, shaped and brought to life. The smell of lubricating oil, the heat of the furnace, the rhythmic tapping on the anvil - it was all deeply engraved in his memory.
Enzo was the second child in the family, after his older brother Alfredo, known as "Dino". Their mother, Adalgisa Bisbini, was a woman of strong willpower who raised the young Enzo with a mixture of strictness and sensitivity. She was regarded as a great moral authority in the household - a quality that Enzo would often cite in later years when talking about his own discipline. Contrary to what is often assumed, Enzo was not a charismatic boy, but rather quiet, introverted, almost melancholic. But beneath the surface, there was a fiery spirit at work.
A race that changed everything
The year 1908 marked a turning point in Enzo Ferrari's young life. His father took him and his brother to the Circuito di Bologna, one of the first organized car races in Italy. For Enzo, it was an experience from another world. The noisy, whistling machines - daring constructions on four wheels, steaming, rattling, thundering over the rough asphalt - exerted a fascination on him that he would never be able to shake off.
"I didn't know what a racing car was. But when I heard the roar of the engines for the first time, I knew: this is my world."
- Enzo Ferrari (later memoirs)
While many boys of his generation dreamed of horses, soldiers or adventurers, Enzo became fixated on these new gods of metal and fire. He collected pictures of drivers such as Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro, drew cars in his exercise books and began to ask his first technical questions. This enthusiasm was more than just a childish play instinct - it was a kind of vocation.
Modena in transition - a mirror of its development
It is remarkable how closely Enzo's personal development was linked to the transformation of Modena. As the town slowly transitioned from an agricultural society to an industrial center, Enzo also developed a growing understanding of technology, innovation and mechanical precision. The influence of his father cannot be overestimated. Alfredo Ferrari, a supporter of technical progress, encouraged Enzo's interests, even if he would never have guessed what course this would set.
But their happiness did not last forever. In 1915-1916, Enzo's family was struck by tragedy: Within a very short space of time, they lost first his brother and then his father to the flu epidemic and health complications. The workshop was closed and Enzo, who had just come of age, was suddenly faced with a life of uncertainty. He was penniless, without vocational training, and yet determined to make something of his life - in the name of motorsport.
1.2 The First World War: destruction and isolation
When Enzo Ferrari lost his father and brother in 1916, Italy was in the midst of one of the most devastating conflicts in modern history: the First World War. Industrialization had changed warfare - artillery, machine guns, poison gas. The landscape of Europe was crushed, as were millions of young lives. Enzo was not spared either: he had barely turned 18 when he was drafted into the Italian army - and experienced a form of reality at the front that had nothing to do with his shiny metal fascination for machines.
Service in hell - The alpine artillery
Enzo was assigned to the Alpini artillery, a special unit that operated in the inaccessible mountain regions of northern Italy. His main task was to shoe and care for mules, as they were often more reliable than vehicles in rough terrain. The romantic notion of the machine age, which had enchanted him as a child, was abruptly replaced by the daily horror of positional warfare.
Serving in the high mountains was not only physically demanding - with temperatures well below freezing and heavy equipment on his back - but also psychologically destructive. Ferrari was confronted with death, hunger, cold and fear. The mule became his most loyal companion, his role as farrier one of the few tasks that gave him a sense of order in the midst of chaos.
"I didn't learn how to fight in the war, but how to survive - in the cold, in silence, with the smell of gunpowder in my nose."
- Enzo Ferrari (from an interview in 1963)
The great flu and the escape from death
In the winter of 1918 - just a few months before the end of the war - Enzo was struck by the infamous Spanish flu, a pandemic that claimed more lives worldwide than the battles themselves. In a small field hospital, surrounded by the wounded, without medicine or warmth, he struggled for his life for days with a high fever.
Miraculously, he survived. But he was physically weakened and his morale was at rock bottom. When he was finally released in 1919, he was a different person. The lightness and joie de vivre of his childhood had disappeared. What remained was a man who had lost everything in a very short space of time - father, brother, childhood, health - and possessed only one thing: an indestructible will.
Modena after the war - A place of shadows
Enzo returned to a city that felt foreign. His father's workshop was closed, the family impoverished. Childhood friends had fallen, others were crippled. It was a time of uncertainty. Italy was economically and socially shattered - and nobody cared about a former blacksmith with dreams of becoming a racing driver.
And yet there was something inside him that refused to be defeated. Being close to death had given him a clarity that many never achieve. He had survived - and he would make the most of his life. The longing for speed, for technology, for competition - it reawakened. And so Enzo began to put out feelers.
2. the discovery of motorsport: from test driver to champion
2.1 Getting started in a roundabout way: CMN and the first competition
Enzo Ferrari's return to civilian life was characterized by uncertainty. Italy after the First World War was a country torn apart, marked by political upheaval, economic instability and social misery. Factories closed, jobs were scarce and many young men sought refuge in radical ideologies or the criminal milieu. Enzo, however, had other plans. Despite his physical weakness and psychological scars, he held on to his childhood dream: he wanted to become a racing driver.
The first disappointment: Fiat's refusal
His first step was almost naïve, but typical of Ferrari's unshakeable self-image: he traveled to Turin to apply for a job at Italy's largest and most prestigious car manufacturer - Fiat. But Fiat, which was in the process of reorienting itself in post-war production, had no interest in an inexperienced young man with a military background and no formal technical training.
The rejection was a deep blow. Ferrari himself later described this moment as one of his most formative defeats - not because it discouraged him, but because it forced him to take the indirect route. It was the first time that he could rely not on talent or luck, but on perseverance and improvisation.
Chance saves the dream: Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali (CMN)
In the same city, just a few streets away from Fiat's gleaming headquarters, there was a small, almost inconspicuous car manufacturer: CMN - Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali. Originally founded as an armaments company, CMN tried to switch to the civilian automobile market after the end of the war - with very limited success.
Ferrari, hungry and determined, knocked on their door. And unlike at Fiat, this time he was lucky: CMN was looking for a test driver for their new models. He wasn't offered a salary, but the chance to drive - and for Enzo, that was all that mattered.
"I wasn't an employee. I was a supplicant who wanted to prove to them that I was destined for greatness."
- Enzo Ferrari, in an interview from the 1960s
Image source: By Unknown photographer - [3], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98543422
Parma-Poggio di Berceto 1919 - The first race
A few months after joining CMN, Enzo was given the opportunity to take part in his first official race: the hill climb from Parma to Poggio di Berceto, an 85-kilometre, extremely demanding course in Emilia-Romagna. The vehicle: a converted CMN 15/20 HP, actually a road vehicle whose bodywork had been stripped down to give it a racing character.
Enzo was not the favorite. His car was heavy, underpowered and the team had hardly any experience in motorsport. Nevertheless, he showed his mettle: he drove aggressively, courageously and sometimes riskily. In the end, he finished fourth in his class - a remarkable achievement considering that he was competing against experienced drivers with better equipment.
The significance of this moment
For Ferrari , this race was more than just a sporting success - it was confirmation that he was in the game. He had made it onto the track. He had shown that he not only dreamed of speed, but could also live it. He was still a long way from being considered a serious contender - but something had solidified inside him: He belonged on the asphalt.
The name Ferrari appeared for the first time in the racing reports in the daily press - in tiny print, almost casually. But Enzo cut it out, framed it and hung it above his bed. He was convinced that this was the start of something big.
2.2 Alfa Romeo and the first victories
If racing had opened Enzo Ferrari 's eyes, then Alfa Romeo was the first window through which he was allowed to look into the world of great motorsport. Joining the ranks of this up-and-coming car manufacturer was not just a career leap for Ferrari - it was the moment when he began to evolve from driver to visionary.
A name with ambitions: Alfa Romeo in the 1920s
Alfa Romeo - originally founded as Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (A.L.F.A.) - had become a serious force in automobile manufacturing after the First World War under the leadership of engineer Nicola Romeo. By 1920, Alfa was already an up-and-coming manufacturer with a sporting reputation but no consistent racing victories. This was precisely where Enzo saw his opportunity.
Ferrari not only applied as a driver, but also came up with an idea of team structure and organization that was virtually unheard of in racing at the time. In an era when many drivers prepared their cars themselves and competed with minimal support, Enzo already saw the potential of a close symbiosis between driver, engineer and mechanics.
Image source: By Agence Rol - Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63860434
The first race with Alfa - Targa Florio 1920
His first race for Alfa Romeo was the 1920 Targa Florio, one of the toughest road races in the world - 432 kilometers over the serpentine roads of Sicily. Enzo competed in an Alfa Romeo 40/60 HP - a powerful car with a 6.1-liter engine and almost 90 hp. In a chaotic, dusty and technically extremely demanding race, Ferrari tooksecond place - a sensation.
"I had no idea how I was going to get this car safely over the mountains of Sicily. But I knew that if I didn't try, I would never know if I could do it."
- Enzo Ferrari on the 1920 Targa Florio
This result cemented his position in the team. What's more, it was the beginning of a close relationship between Enzo and Alfa Romeo that would last for over a decade.
The golden years as a driver - 1921 to 1924
In the following years, Enzo drove numerous races for Alfa Romeo - not always with spectacular results, but with increasing consistency and a fine feel for technology. Between 1921 and 1924, he took part in over 40 races, including the Coppa Acerbo, Parma-Berceto, the Mugello circuit and the Circuito del Savio.
While many drivers focused on the thrill, Enzo began to see the race like a game of chess. He studied tracks, weather conditions, competition, mechanics. He became known for his ability not necessarily to win a race, but to finish it in the best possible way - with an intact car, clean driving style and tactical flair. His few victories - including the Circuito del Savio in 1923 - were not triumphant drives, but strategic masterpieces.
One name, one symbol - the Cavallino Rampante is born
This very race - the Circuito del Savio 1923 - also marked the birth of a symbol that would later become an icon: the Cavallino Rampante, the jumping horse.
After the race, Ferrari was approached by Enrico Baracca, the father of fighter pilot Francesco Baracca, who died in the First World War. Baracca, the national hero, had flown a leaping black horse on his plane. The family suggested that Enzo use this symbol on his cars - as a sign of courage and luck.
"Put the Cavallino Rampante on your carriages - it will bring you luck."
- Contessa Paolina Baracca, 1923
Ferrari did it. He adapted the coat of arms slightly, placed it on a yellow background - the color of his home town of Modena - and years later made it the centerpiece of his brand.
The silent retreat from the cockpit
In 1924, Enzo received a tempting offer from Fiat, the company that had rejected him years earlier. But he turned it down. He was still deeply committed to Alfa Romeo. In the years that followed, however, he felt that he had reached his limits as a driver. The younger competitors were more willing to take risks, often more reckless. Enzo, on the other hand, thought more long-term, more mechanically, more entrepreneurially.
In 1927, he gradually retired from active racing. His last official race was in 1931 - the "Tre Province" three-city tour, in which he still finished third. By this time, his first son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, had just been born - and Enzo had begun to think along different lines.
"I never stopped loving racing. I just stopped driving myself. Because I knew that I still had bigger races ahead of me."
- Enzo Ferrari
3. the founding of Scuderia Ferrari: a new era begins
3.1 The dream of having your own team
By the end of the 1920s, Enzo Ferrari was no longer a star of the track, but he was a fixture on the Italian racing scene. He had experience, an extensive network and - perhaps most importantly - a clear plan. His races had taught him that victories are not only won through driving skills, but also through organization, technology, strategy and a strong team in the background. At a time when motorsport was often still seen as a reckless male domain without structure, Enzo recognized the potential of a professional racing organization - with mechanics, engineers, test drivers, logistics and above all: vision.
The vision: A racing team for gentlemen drivers
Enzo's idea was revolutionary for its time: he wanted to set up a kind of private team that would enable amateurs - mostly wealthy private individuals, so-called "gentleman drivers" - to take part in races with top-class equipment. These drivers were not supposed to prepare their own cars or be on their own, but could rely on a professional team. Ferrari recognized a gap in the market: There were many passionate amateur racing drivers, but hardly any structures to support them.
At the same time, it was a move with foresight: those who looked after the amateur drivers built up relationships - with sponsors, with Alfa Romeo, with the press. Enzo Ferrari thought like a strategist - not in lap times, but in systems.
"The driver is part of the race car. But the team is the backbone of victory."
- Enzo Ferrari
The official foundation: November 16, 1929
On November 16, 1929, the time had come: in Modena, in Via Trento e Trieste, Enzo founded Scuderia Ferrari together with a handful of local entrepreneurs. The founding was not celebrated as a spectacular event, but took place in a small circle - but its significance was epochal. The "Scuderia" (Italian for "racing team") was soon to become the most famous team name in automotive history.
Some of the early supporters were wealthy Modenese entrepreneurs - such as Alfredo Caniato, a wealthy textile manufacturer, and Mario Tadini, an aristocratic racing enthusiast. A not insignificant part of the financing also came from Alfa Romeo itself, which had a great interest in establishing a kind of semi-official satellite racing team through the Scuderia - with Ferrari as the liaison between the factory and the racetrack.
The first racing team without its own car
One interesting aspect of the early Scuderia Ferrari was that it did not initially build its own cars. Instead, the team ran Alfa Romeo cars, which it prepared, maintained and optimized for races. The team thus became the unofficial works team of Alfa - with an enormous amount of freedom.
Between 1930 and 1937, the Scuderia fielded over 40 drivers in various races - including Tazio Nuvolari, who is perhaps considered the greatest Italian racing driver of all time. Enzo had an eye for talent, but also a clear line: only those who were disciplined, technically interested and loyal were allowed to drive for him. For him, drivers were soldiers who fought for an idea - for "his" Scuderia.
The Cavallino Rampante becomes a symbol
Now - and not just with the founding of the Ferrari- the prancing horse began its triumphal march. Enzo, who had received it from the Baracca family in 1923, had it stylized by an artist friend and combined it with the yellow coat of arms of Modena. From then on, it was proudly emblazoned on the Scuderia Ferrari cars - a symbol of power, elegance, rebellion and Italian excellence.
"The Cavallino is not my property. It belongs to the Ferrari idea. And it's bigger than me."
- Enzo Ferrari
Initial successes and growing influence
Scuderia Ferrari soon took part in almost all the major races: the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, the Italian Grand Prix. The results were remarkable, but it was above all the professional appearance that caused a stir. While other teams improvised, Ferrari appeared with uniforms, prepared cars, tactics and reserve plans - a novelty.
The press soon spoke of Scuderia Ferrari as the "Prussian regiment on Italian soil" - disciplined, efficient, hungry for victory.
3.2 The Cavallino Rampante - a myth with wings
Image source: By Håkan Dahlström from Malmö, Sweden - Cavallino Rampante, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80642842
A symbol from the war
It was 1923 when Enzo Ferrari, then still a young racing driver for Alfa Romeo, won the Savio Grand Prix in Ravenna - a regionally important race, but for Ferrari the prelude to a life-changing encounter. After the race, he was invited to meet Count and Countess Enrico and Paolina Baracca - the parents of Francesco Baracca, Italy's most famous fighter pilot in the First World War.
Francesco Baracca was a national hero during his lifetime: over 30 confirmed air victories, a medal of honor for bravery, pilot of the legendary Italian flying squadron "Squadriglia degli Assi". The side of his plane - a SPAD S.XIII - was emblazoned with the emblem of a rearing black horse: the "Cavallino Rampante". It was originally the emblem of an old cavalry regiment of the Italian army - Baracca had adopted it to honor his origins.
After Baracca's death in the line of duty in 1918, the emblem became the epitome of courage, patriotism and sacrifice. When she met Enzo Ferrari , Countess Baracca solemnly presented him with the coat of arms of her fallen son - with the words that burned in Enzo's memory:
"Put the prancing horse on your wagons. It will bring you luck."
- Paolina Baracca
Ferrari was deeply moved. For him, this was not just a friendly gesture - it was a handover of spirit and responsibility. Baracca had fought in the air, Enzo would do so on the road. Both were united by a drive for speed, precision and discipline.
A new coat of arms is created
Although Enzo adopted the Cavallino as early as 1923, several years passed before he actually used it in public - because at that time he was still driving under the Alfa banner. It was not until Scuderia Ferrari was founded in 1929 and established as a serious force in motorsport that the emblem was brought out again, revised and embedded in an independent coat of arms.
He gave the black horse a yellow background - not by chance, but as a tribute to his home town of Modena, whose city colors are yellow and blue. Above this, he added the letters "S F" for Scuderia Ferrari. However, he left out the original wings of the Baracca coat of arms - not to distance himself from the original, but to change the direction: From then on, the horse looked to the right, towards progress, towards the future, towards the ideal line.
The first public use of the Cavallino by Ferrari dates back to 1932, at the Spa 24 Hours race - and as legend would have it, Ferrari won with the logo on the cars.
Symbolism, psychology and effect
A jumping horse is not a random motif. In iconography, it stands for:
Unrestrained - an animal on the move, untamable.
Strength and grace - strength that is not clumsy, but controlled.
Freedom - it is not a tamed mount, but an expression of the wild spirit.
In Ferrari's case, the Cavallino became a psychological emblem: it was intended to encourage drivers, intimidate opponents and give customers the feeling of being part of something bigger. The simple black silhouette on a yellow background appears elegant at first glance - but it becomes engraved and becomes a trademark on hoods, jerseys and trophies.
Differentiation from other horses - a duel of brands
The similarity to the Porsche logo, which also shows a leaping horse, is often discussed. In fact, Porsche traces its coat of arms back to the coat of arms of Stuttgart - a city that was founded on a stud farm ("Stutengarten").
But there is a subtle but significant difference here: the Porsche horse appears more sedate, symmetrical, almost static - while the Ferrari looks aggressive, dynamic and almost exploding. At Porsche, it is part of a coat of arms. At Ferrari , it is the coat of arms.
Enzo himself had once said:
"Other brands have horses. Ours runs free."
- Enzo Ferrari
The eternity of the symbol
Today, the Cavallino Rampante is one of the best-known emblems in the world - on a par with Apple, Coca-Cola or Nike. It stands not only for a car brand, but for a lifestyle. For a myth that is not expressed in horsepower or price, but in stories, emotions, triumphs and tragedies.
It is a symbol that does not age - because it has never really belonged to the present. It dates back to the First World War, was forged in the golden age of motorsport and lives on today in hypercars that are more computer than machine. And yet: every time a Ferrari accelerates with the Cavallino, the spirit of Baracca - and Enzo - gallops a little further.
(to be continued in part 2:)
Chapter 4: The break with Alfa Romeo and the first "real" Ferrari
Chapter 5: Maranello becomes the birthplace of the legend
Chapter 6: Enzo Ferrari as entrepreneur, perfectionist and control freak
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Enzo Ferrari - The man who created the legend Part 2 of 4
