The Story behind the Ferarri Horse

David Sanderson Horses in History

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We’ve all heard of Ferarri, and we recognize the symbol with the horse – but why would a horse be on the logo of a luxury car logo? Well, here’s the story …

First – it’s important to know the man behind the name. Enzo Anselmo Ferrari was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur and founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team. On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an ace of the Italian air force and national hero of World War I, who used to paint a horse on the side of his planes in tribute to his former cavalry regiment.

The Original Logo on Baracca’s planes

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The Countess asked Enzo to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would bring him good luck. The original “prancing horse” on Baracca’s airplane was painted in red on a white cloud-like shape, but Ferrari chose to have the horse in black (as it had been painted as a sign of grief on Baracca’s squadron planes after the pilot was killed in action) and he added a canary yellow background as this is the color of the city of Modena, his birthplace.

So there you have it! The Ferarri logo comes from an Italian air force ace (Count Baracca) who wanted to pay tribute to his cavalry regiment. Enzo made some minor changes, but that’s how it all started. Unfortunately, Baracca never got to see his logo on a car. I wonder if Enzo could have ever imagined how famous his brand would become.

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