Why Is The Maserati Logo A Trident?

Very few countries do an evocative car company logo like Italy. Ferrari has its prancing horse, Lamborghini its raging bull, Abarth its stinging scorpion and Alfa Romeo its snake eating a guy. Then there’s Maserati, which shies away from animals and instead heads into the realm of cutlery.

Okay, not really – the three-pronged fork that Maserati uses as its logo isn’t for eating with. It’s a trident, a spear historically used for fishing and long tied up in various mythologies. But how did it come to be the emblem of one of Italy’s most esoteric carmakers?

The logo first saw use in 1926, when the first car to bear the Maserati name, the Tipo 26 Grand Prix racer, was designed and built by the brothers Alfieri, Ettore and Ernesto Maserati. They were three of seven brothers from the same father, although only five were still alive by the time Maserati was founded.

All the surviving brothers, though, had some role to play in the company, even Mario, who was the only one with no real interest in cars or motorsport. Instead, he pursued art, studying at Milan’s prestigious Brera Academy. With this more creative background, he was asked by his brothers to come up with a logo for their new company, although per the story on Maserati’s own website, the logo ended up coming to him.

Perhaps in the name of getting some inspiration, Mario went for a stroll around the city of Bologna, where Maserati was founded, and in the Piazza Maggiore in the city centre, he laid eyes on the fountain topped by a statue of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea and freshwater. (As an aside, quite why Bologna, a city nearly 50 miles from the nearest coast and with no rivers or lakes to speak of, chose to honour Neptune with a statue, we don’t know).

Of the various, erm, appendages on this statue, the one that stands out the most if, unlike us, you don’t have the mental age of a 10-year-old, is the mighty trident being held by Neptune. Inspiration, it seems, was waiting for Mario just down the road from Maserati’s headquarters.

To be clear, we’re not trying to say Mario decided on the trident, called it a day and went for a lovely long lunch (although this being Italy, the last bit’s entirely possible). The use of the trident, which was enthusiastically embraced by his brothers, nicely symbolised strength and power while also providing a handy link to Maserati’s home city. Until recently, when it adopted a minimalist, monochrome look like so many other car companies of late, there was a further link with the logo’s red and blue colour scheme, echoing that of Bologna’s coat of arms.

We don’t doubt, though, that going for a nice afternoon stroll and happening upon the perfect emblem for a car company is easier than the hundreds of focus groups and millions of pounds it probably takes to come up with one these days.