Maserati has been producing limited-run, high-quality luxury cars for one century, and remains as an extremely reputable brand within the automotive history. Over their one hundred years of operation, the company all many changes, however one thing remained constant: their logo. Obviously it is important for car manufactures to have a logo, especially one that is cool and is able to differentiate itself from others. The story behind the Maserati logo is a lot older than the car brand itself, taking its influence from an iconic mythological figure.
The trident was the weapon that the mythological god known as Neptune preferred. Neptune was an ancient Roman god who was the god of both fresh water and salt water. Considering that fact, Neptune was a well respected god, especially amongst sailors and those that lived by bodies of water. Images of Neptune are found throughout the regions that the Roman Empire was in, and he is depicted with his trident. The inspiration for Maserati came from a fountain located in their home city of Bologna.
All the way back in 1563 Tommaso Laureti, a prominent Sicilian artists, was commissioned to design a fountain for the city of Bologna. He came up with the Fountain of Neptune and sculptor Jean De Boulogne brought the fountain to life in 1565. Since it was erected, the fountain has remained to be one of the iconic features of Bologna. In 1920, Maserati found themselves needing a logo as they had planned to begin producing race cars. The Maserati brothers came together and it was Mario Maserati, an artists, who came up with the logo after a friend suggested that he should base it off of the Fountain of Neptune, something they all felt represented Bologna. Additionally Mario used the cities colors of red and blue in the trident logo. While the logo itself has had slight modifications since it was created, it has always remained as a trident, and it will forever be associated with Maserati.
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