THE11 July of the 1899, exactly 122 years ago, was born there Fiat. The deed of foundation took place in Palazzo Bricherasio, naturally in Turin, and was the first step in a centuries-old history which then, many decades later, would first lead to the merger with Crysler in fca and then to the one with Psa in stellantis.
In any case, the Fiat brand alone represents a pillar of the Italian economic history of the twentieth century. Over the years the company – which dealt mainly with automobiles, but not only – would become the most important Italian private financial and industrial group of the XNUMXth century, as well as the first holding company in the country and, limited to the automotive sector, the largest producer in Europe and the third in the world, after the giants made in the USA General Motors and Ford. The golden age ended at the end of the XNUMXs, with the explosion of the crisis in the Turin automotive industry.
But let's go back to the day of the foundation, that July 11th 122 years ago. The project to create a factory for the production of cars is due to a dozen notables from Turin: among them were aristocrats, landowners, entrepreneurs and professionals.
After various preliminary meetings held in Madame Burello's cafe and strengthened by the financial support guaranteed by the "Banco di Discount e Sete" of Turin, the group met in Palazzo Bricherasio to sign the deed of "Constitution of the Società Anonima Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili – Turin”. At the beginning, the registered capital was of 800 thousand lire, for a total of 4 thousand shares. The presidency was entrusted to Ludovico Scarfiotti.
The first car was the model "3½HP“, produced in eight specimens during 1899. In that same year, the company changed its name from Fia to Fiat.
A curiosity: the change was enthusiastically supported by one of the founders, Cesare Goria-Gatti, who, in the newspaper The car, also called for the adoption of the new acronym due to the auspicious overlap with the Latin verb. Another of the founders, Emanuele Cacherano di Bricherasio, was instead perplexed, because the new name evoked biblical passages (fiat luxury) which clashed with his Marxist convictions.
