An Italian excellence: technological know-how, passion and victories
Great champions such as Alfredo Binda and the unforgettable Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali became the stars of cycling races in the 1950s. And it was Alfredo Binda who came up with the idea for the Gran Premio Pirelli in 1949: a cycling trophy for amateurs with the finish line at the Velodromo Vigorelli.
The Gran Premio Pirelli immediately made its mark as one of the most important springboards for young cyclists who aspired to become professionals. A history of races, victories, innovations, champions and technical know-how that enabled Pirelli to return to cycling competitions with high-performance tyres.
It’s hard not to think of the film Roman Holiday when looking at this "Audrey Hepburn" revisited by the designer Lora Lamm for the Pirelli per lo scooter ["Pirelli for scooters"] advertising campaign. In the late 1940s, Pirelli became the first Italian company to produce tyres for motor scooters, including the legendary Vespas and Lambrettas.
A 1952 advertisement reads: "Pirelli has increasingly perfected its products, and now offers the widest assortment of sizes and types, to the point that most motor scooters that come out of factories and go onto Italy’s roads are fitted with Pirelli tyres." Today the company’s tradition of making tyres for motor scooters continues with the launch of new products for two-wheel enthusiasts.
"After five long years of study, we have manufactured and launched a new tyre called Cinturato, based on completely different criteria from those of the past. The key difference in its structure is that of a robust fabric belt placed between the tread and the carcass." This is how Pirelli announced the launch of the Cinturato radial, patented in 1951 and based on studies by engineer Luigi Emanueli. It was destined to revolutionise the world of tyres and road transport.
When it was launched on the market, the Cinturato was recommended for sports cars, and in the 1960s it established itself on the international market as a veritable icon of the economic boom and of Italy on the move. Its success was also assured by that of the great advertising campaigns that the company entrusted to the creativity of leading designers such as Alessandro Mendini, Pino Tovaglia, and Bob Noorda.
In the late 1950s, Pirelli decided to build a new management and administrative headquarters in the area where the first factory had been in the centre of Milan. It was to be the Pirelli Tower. Rising to a height of 127 metres, on 31 floors, it was designed to represent not just the rebirth of the company, but also to be a symbol of Italy’s new start after the war.
The Tower was opened in April 1960. Life in the building, with its American-style open spaces, soon became that of a little city within a city in 1960s Milan. From the sixteenth storey upwards, the floors were occupied by Pirelli staff functions, and the desks were arranged in bright open spaces, complete with air conditioning.
Painters, writers and photographers have always portrayed the world of factories and work. Just as the post-war period and the 1950s witnessed a new “industrial renaissance”, the photos in Pirelli factories taken in 1962 by the Dutch photographer Arno Hammacher well illustrate a new approach to the concept of “know-how”.
And this representation of industry through images continues today with photo shoots of Pirelli factories around the world and auteur photographs, such as those by Peter Lindbergh, which tell the story of the Factory 4.0.
With the driver Sandro Munari, Pirelli launched the Cinturato tyre in motor racing in the early 1970s: mounted on the Lancia Fulvia HF, Munari took the Pirelli CN36 and the winter MS35 to victory, winning the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally.
The Pirelli racing team was headed by the engineer Mario Mezzanotte, who invented a new Cinturato for racing. This was the P7, with which Munari won the Monte Carlo Rally three times in a row with his Stratos, in 1975, 1976 and 1977.