Marque of a Legend: The Trident

It is a feature of every Maserati, both road-going and racing; it is also a symbol of the origins of the famous automobile manufacturer. The Trident has been appearing on cars for eighty years, and it is worth recounting how it became the symbol of the great Modenese company.

Rodolfo and Carolina Maserati had seven children, all of them boys. One of the seven died soon after birth, but the remaining six all survived childhood. The oldest brother, Carlo, soon proved to be something of a mechanical genius, involved in everything from motorized bicycles to radial aero engines before succumbing to tuberculosis at a young age.

Carlo had been an inspiration to his younger brother, Alfieri, who followed his lead into engineering. With three of his brothers -- Bindo, Ettore and Ernesto -- Alfieri formed the Maserati company in 1914, in their home town of Bologna. The town is in the Emilia-Romagna region of central Italy, 125 miles south-east of Milan and 300 miles north of Rome, near the Adriatic coast; to the south lie the Appenine mountains, which run down Italy like a spine for hundreds of miles.

Initially the company concentrated on aero engines and manufacturing spark plugs, but soon became involved in building cars. By contrast the remaining Maserati brother, Mario, had aspirations to become an artist. Squarely in the center of Bologna is the Piazza del Nettuno, which contains a large fountain, created by the Flemish sculptor Jean Luc de Boulogne; atop the fountain there is a statue of Neptune, standing with one foot resting on a convenient fish -- and holding a trident in his right hand. It was the statue - specifically the head of the Trident -- which inspired Mario to design the badge which has identified Maserati ever since. The Trident is a symbol that ties together the brothers, their hometown, and the artistry and craftsmanship for which Bologna and Emilia-Romagna are known. In adopting the Trident, the company signaled both its heritage, and its intention to produce fine automotive art.

The Targa Florio-winning Tipo 26.

In 1926 the brothers built the first car to bear the Maserati name. The Tipo 26 was a pure racer, featuring a remarkably advanced engine. The straight-eight 1.5-liter supercharged unit had double overhead camshafts and made 120bhp, which would be a respectable output from such an engine even today. The car carried the new Trident badge and on its debut it won its class in the Targa Florio, with Alfieri Maserati at the wheel. The Italian manufacturer had truly arrived, and the Trident genuinely symbolized quality and victory.

In the decades that followed, the Trident at the front of Maserati cars was often the first thing across finish lines around Italy, and eventually throughout Europe. The badge on early cars was rectangular, and the form of the Trident was constant. Commencing with the one-off 4CTR in 1931, the retaining shape was changed to the more aerodynamic and modernist oval which has been in use, with slight stylistic variations, ever since.

When Maserati made the short 25 mile move north-west to the town of Modena the Trident moved with them. It was by now even more firmly associated with Officine Alfieri Maserati than with the town of Bologna. After Alfieri Maserati's death, the surviving brothers accepted an offer in 1940 by the Modenese industrialist Orsi family to take over the company and secure its finances. The company has remained in Modena to this day, and although the Trident symbol was inspired by a Bolognese feature, it is proudly displayed atop the factory offices of Maserati SpA, a landmark in Modena for over fifty years.