Prancing Horse

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The Prancing Horse (Italian: Cavallino Rampante, lit.'little prancing horse') is the symbol of Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari and its racing division Scuderia Ferrari. Originally, the symbol was used by World War I pilot Francesco Baracca on his airplane.

History[]

Baracca and his SPAD S.XIII
The coat of arms of the Baracca family
Baracca, his SPAD S.XIII and the coat of arms of the Baracca family.

Enzo Ferrari was a racing driver for Alfa Romeo in the earlier decades of the twentieth century. Following one of his wins at the Targa Florio, he met Francesco Baracca's parents, who told him that their son used to paint a prancing horse on his airplane and suggested that if Ferrari applied the horse on his cars, he would have good luck.[1][2] Ferrari took their advice and started to use the black Prancing Horse on a yellow background (yellow being one of the colours of the city flag of his native Modena) as the official Ferrari logo.

Initially, all Scuderia Ferrari's cars were manufactured by Alfa Romeo, but after the foundation of Auto Avio Costruzioni (later known as "Ferrari"), Ferrari began to use his Ferrari cars.

Uses[]

The Prancing Horse is used as part of Ferrari and Scuderia Ferrari logos, on tifosi's flags and as a Ferrari symbol.

References[]

  1. ^ Enzo Ferrari: Una leggenda a fumetti, Quattroruote comic book by Editoriale Domus.
  2. ^ Berruti, Valerio; Magistà, Aurelio, eds. (2009). L'Automobile. Marche e modelli dalle origini ad oggi (in Italian). 3. La Biblioteca di Repubblica-L'Espresso. p. 212.
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