There are pretty much four* Meccas for hardcore Alfisti, all of which are geographically located in the northern Lombardy and Ticino region. In Mezzovico, in the Marx Collection, " CulturAlfa " organized a Sunday afternoon event for the second time on 23 March 2025.
The little-known Nicola Romeo at the center
After a retro show on "Alfa Romeo in Brazil" a year ago, this time the focus was on Nicola Romeo himself.
Host Axel Marx formulated one of the goals as follows: "We want to make the person Nicola Romeo, who is not widely known, a little better known". Not much more than a Wikipedia entry and a few other small notes can be found on the Internet. Nicola Romeo is a much more important person in Italian economic history than is generally assumed - a person who also created much greater things than 'just' Alfa Romeo."
Great interest
Over 250 Alfisti wanted to know more on March 23, 2025.
The descendants of the Romeo family took part, with Daniela Romeo (granddaughter), her son, Matteo Sartori (great-grandson), Elena Dones Romeo (granddaughter), Meo and Roberto Maestri Romeo (grandsons) and other great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren present in Mezzovico; Domenico "Mimmo Nagro (former director of the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese), Gippo Salvetti (President of the Alfa Blue Team) and Claudio Bonfoli (founding member of the Alfa Blue Team) were also present as speakers.
A dazzling career
The essence: After studying at the University of Naples, the highly intelligent young Nicola Romeo first became a civil engineer at the age of 23 and then an electrical engineer after moving to the University of Liège. This was followed by further stays abroad in Germany, France and the USA.
The English mining company Rob. Blackwell + CO. commissioned him to set up a new branch in Italy.
As early as 1906, he founded "Ing. N. Romeo + Cie." and was involved in the completion of the Italian railroad network, its electrification and in civil engineering and mining work.
In 1915, he diversified into the automotive sector with the purchase of the financially ailing company A.L.F.A.. Italy, then on the side of the Allies, needed war material - Alfa Romeo switched to the war economy and from then on also produced aircraft engines, grenades, railroad carriages and locomotives in addition to vehicles. Agricultural machinery was added after the end of the war.
"In the 1920s, Nicola Romeo was the owner of the second-largest industrial empire in Italy. Road and racing vehicles only made up a small part of this," explains Marx.
A feel for talent
Contrary to the legend that Enzo Ferrari had brought the brilliant designer Vittorio Jano from Fiat to Alfa Romeo, it was Nicola Romeo himself who initiated the spectacular transfer - today comparable to Adrien Newey moving from Red Bull to Aston Martin. Jano's racing cars were an immediate success for the Milanese manufacturer: the Alfa Romeo P2 won the first Grand Prix World Championship in 1925. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Alfa Romeo made its way into the high-performance and luxury segment of the car industry.
In the mid-1920s, Nicola Romeo left the company. And: after 100 years, people in his birthplace are considering (finally) erecting a statue in his honor...
Brief profile
Nicola Romeo, * April 28, 1876 in Sant'Antimo near Naples; † August 15, 1938 in Magreglio on Lake Como, married, seven children.
* P.S. The 4 Alfa Romeo meccas:
Collection Marx, Mezzovico (CH)
Museo Fratelli Cozzi, Legnano (I)
Alfa Blue Team Premenugo di Settala (I)
Museo Alfa Romeo, Arese (I)
