The Story Behind the Ferrari Logo

Ferrari Logo

Having an attractive and easily-recognizable logo is a very important thing for any major business to have. Typically companies spend money to research and test various logos for their companies, but that is not the case for Ferrari. The prancing horse logo used by Ferrari has gone on to become one of the most famous logos of all time, and it has largely gone unchanged over the years. So how did the company choose this logo and what’s the story behind it?

Back in the 1920’s Enzo Ferrari was tearing up the local racing scene and wanted to create his own racing and car company. He had all the plans ready, except he still needed a logo. This is when he heard the story of Count Enrico Baracca. Baracca was a legendary hero and an ace pilot that flew warplanes for Italy during the first World War. On his airplane he had a large prancing horse that was painted black. He would eventually die during the war, but his story and legend lived on. One day Enzo found himself in the company of the Counts mother, Countess Paolina. She told him that he should use her son’s horse on their cars because it would bring him luck. Enzo didn’t give to much though to it, and decided to go with the idea. He used the black horse and gave it a yellow background, as that was the color of town where Enzo was born and thus the Ferrari logo came to life.

Well it seemed like Enzo and his company did receive a whole lot of luck from that logo, as we all know they would go on to become one of the most famous car manufactures of all time. So the whole story behind the Ferrari logo is based upon a horse that an old air ace used on his airplane during WWI.

Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Written by Sebastian Hensiek

From Philadelphia, Sebastian is a fan of music, writing, art, and entertainment.