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Itala was a car manufacturer based in
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by
Matteo Ceirano Matteo Ceirano (1870 in Cuneo – 19 March 1941 in Torino) was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry who co-founded the manufacturers Ceirano; Itala Fabbrica Automobili in 1904 and Società Piemontese Automobili (S.P.A ...
and five partners in 1903.


Ceirano family background

The Ceirano brothers,
Giovanni Battista Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, Gia ...
, Giovanni,
Ernesto Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to: * ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975 ** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ba ...
and
Matteo Matteo is the Italian form of the given name Matthew. Another form is Mattia. The Hebrew meaning of Matteo is "gift of god". Matteo can also be used as a patronymic surname, often in the forms of de Matteo, De Matteo or DeMatteo, meaning " escenda ...
, were influential in the founding of the Italian auto industry, being variously responsible for: Ceirano; Welleyes (the technical basis of F.I.A.T.);
Fratelli Ceirano Fratelli Ceirano & C was an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1901 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano and his brother Matteo Ceirano after they had left F.I.A.T. Their own automobile manufacturing business, Ceirano GB & C and its ''Welleyes'' ...
; S.T.A.R. / Rapid (
Società Torinese Automobili Rapid Società Torinese Automobili Rapid, also known as S.T.A.R. and Rapid, was an Italian car manufacturer founded by Giovanni Battista Ceirano in Turin in July 1904. ''Rapid'' was its trademark. In 1921 it was acquired by the S.P.A. (Società Piem ...
); SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino); Itala and S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili). Giovanni's son Giovanni "Ernesto" was also influential, co-founding Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA). In 1888, after eight years apprenticeship at his father's watch-making business, Giovanni Battista started building ''Welleyes'' bicycles, so named because English names had more sales appeal. In October 1898 Giovanni Battista and Matteo co-founded
Ceirano GB & C Ceirano GB & C was a historic automobile company, founded in October 1888 by Giovanni Battista Ceirano, Emanuele di Bricherasio, Attilio Calligaris, Pietro Fenoglio and Cesare Goria Gatti. The new company was based in Turin, where it began to b ...
and started producing the ''Welleyes'' motor car in 1899. In July 1899 the plant and patents were sold to
Giovanni Agnelli Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian businessman, who founded Fiat car manufacturing in 1899. Early life The son of Edoardo Agnelli and Aniceta Frisetti, he was born in 1866 in Villar Perosa, a small town ne ...
and produced as the first F.I.A.T.s - the
Fiat 4 HP The Fiat 4 HP (also known as the 3½ HP or 3½ CV) was the first model of car produced by FIAT, from 1899 to 1900 based on a third party design. Background The 4 HP is related to the Ceirano brothers—Giovanni, Ernesto and Matteo—who were ...
. Giovanni Battista was employed by Fiat as the agent for Italy, but within a year he left to found Fratelli Ceirano & C., which in 1903 became
Società Torinese Automobili Rapid Società Torinese Automobili Rapid, also known as S.T.A.R. and Rapid, was an Italian car manufacturer founded by Giovanni Battista Ceirano in Turin in July 1904. ''Rapid'' was its trademark. In 1921 it was acquired by the S.P.A. (Società Piem ...
(S.T.A.R.) building cars badged as 'Rapid'. In 1904
Matteo Ceirano Matteo Ceirano (1870 in Cuneo – 19 March 1941 in Torino) was an Italian businessman in the early automobile industry who co-founded the manufacturers Ceirano; Itala Fabbrica Automobili in 1904 and Società Piemontese Automobili (S.P.A ...
left Ceirano GB & C to create his own brand – Itala. In 1906 Matteo left Itala to found S.P.A. (Società Piemontese Automobili) with chief designer, Alberto Ballacco. In 1906 Giovanni founded SCAT (Società Ceirano Automobili Torino) in Turin. In 1919 Giovanni and Giovanni "Ernesto" co-founded Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili (aka Giovanni Ceirano Fabbrica Automobili) and in 1922 they took control of Fabrica Anonima Torinese Automobili (FATA).


History

Three cars were offered in the first year, an 18 hp, a 24 hp and a 50 hp. In 1905 they started making very large-engined racing cars with a 14.8-litre 5-cylinder model which won the
Coppa Florio The Coppa Florio (or Florio Cup) was a motorsport race for automobiles first held in Italy in 1900. It was renamed in 1905 when Vincenzo Florio offered the initial 50,000 Lira prize money and a cup designed by Polak of Paris. The cup was to be aw ...
and the year after that the
Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 a ...
. In 1907 a 35/45 hp model driven by Count
Scipione Borghese, 10th Prince of Sulmona Prince Luigi Marcantonio Francesco Rodolfo Scipione Borghese, commonly known as Scipione Borghese (11 September 1871, Migliarino – 18 November 1927, Florence), was an Italian aristocrat, industrialist, politician, explorer, mountain climber a ...
who won the
Peking to Paris The Peking to Paris motor race was an automobile race, originally held in 1907, between Peking (now Beijing), then Qing China (now the People's Republic of China) and Paris, France (then the Third French Republic), a distance of . The idea f ...
motor race by three weeks. These sporting successes helped sales dramatically; the company continued to grow. The company experimented with a range of novel engines such as variable-stroke,
sleeve-valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre- World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. T ...
, and "Avalve" rotary types and at the beginning of World War I, offered a wide range of cars. During the war Itala built aeroplane engines but made a loss producing them. After the armistice car production resumed with models based on the pre war cars such as the Tipo 50 25/35 hp and a re-appearance of the Avalve in the Tipo 55 but financial success eluded the company From 1924 the company was being run under receivership, and they appointed Giulio Cesare Cappa from
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
as general manager. He produced a new car, the Tipo 61 with 7-cylinder alloy engine, which was well received, but he then decided to return to motor sport producing in 1925 the Itala mod.11, a very advanced single seat racing car with a 1050 cc
supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fir ...
that developed 60 CV at 7,000rpm. It had front-wheel drive and all-round independent suspension, with a top speed of around , but the car never raced. Two Tipo 61s did take part in the 1928
Le Mans 24 hour race The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...
, winning the 2-litre class. The company was bought by truck maker Officine Metallurgiche di
Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Histor ...
in 1929, and a few more cars were made up to 1935. The remains of the company was sold to Fiat.


Itala rotary valves

A distinctive feature of the pre-World War I 50 hp and 90 hp models was their use of a
rotary valve A rotary valve (also called rotary-motion valve) is a type of valve in which the rotation of a passage or passages in a transverse plug regulates the flow of liquid or gas through the attached pipes. The common stopcock is the simplest form of rot ...
. Each valve fed a pair of cylinders and was mounted alongside, rotating parallel to them. Four ports cast into the valve alternately connected ports to the cylinders through the side of the valve to the inlet and exhaust manifolds at bottom and top of the valves. Image:Itala_rotary_valve.jpg, Valve and cylinders from above Image:Itala_rotary_valve_strokes.jpg, Engine stroke and valve position Image:Itala_rotary_valve_cooling.jpg, Internal water-cooling of the valve Leo Villa began his career as a racing mechanic working on these rotary valve engines for the driver
Giulio Foresti Giulio () is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: * Giulio Alberoni (1664–1752), Italian cardinal and statesman * Giulio Alenio (1582–1649), Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar * Giulio Alfieri (1924–2002), Italian ...
. He met
Malcolm Campbell Major (United Kingdom), Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on Land Speed Record, land and on Water speed record, water at vari ...
, when in 1923, Campbell took over the Itala and
Ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...
concessions in London. Seeing the publicity potential of racing them at
Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...
, Campbell also bought two of Foresti's race-prepared cars. Foresti and Villa delivered them in person from Paris to Campbell's house at Povey Cross. Impressed by Campbell's wealth and ambitions, Villa accepted an offer to become his permanent mechanic.


Bibliography

* Barzini, Luigi and L P De Castelvecchio. Peking to Paris 100th Anniversary Edition. Demontreville Press Inc, 2007. *


See also

*
List of Italian companies Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe with the third largest nominal GDP in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. As an advanced economy the country also has the sixth worldwide national wealth and it is ranked third fo ...
* List of automobile companies founded by the Ceirano brothers


References


External links

{{Automotive industry in Italy Ceirano family Italian companies established in 1904 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1904 Turin motor companies Fiat Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars