Italian Head Badge thread

[Jesper]

Stella Veneta; Conegliano, Veneto, Treviso (est. 1935, by Ferdinando Michelin; believe he owned Piave at some point)
(edit: further research says a dispute in the Michelin family resulted the founding of Cicli Piave and Miche. I do not know the relationship between each respective company other than what I previously mentioned.)

(Stella Veneta does have an Olympic gold medal victory to their credit: 1964 Tokyo Mario Zanin (Italy). Interesting side note: Eddy Merckx was considered the favorite for the '64 games. He had brought 12000 Belgium francs (value about $250 at the time; present value approx. $2000) to supposedly pay off his Belgium teammates to support him. His wallet was stolen with the cash in it the night before the race. The race was essentially a photo finish with about 100 riders finishing within about .2 second of each other at the finish line. Italy's Zanin winning, Denmark's Akerstrom-H. Rodian in second only .02 second behind Zanin, but apparently 3rd place was disputed [as was every place after 2nd], and 3rd place eventually went to Belgium's Godefroot behind by .11 second with Merckx finishing in 12th place; 99th place being only .2 second behind the winner!)

Given that bike companies liked to boast about World Championships and Olympic victories, this badge might be prior to the 1964 Olympics with later versions possibly having Olympic rings. I would almost guarantee that the Olympic rings were displayed somewhere on a Stella Veneta bike post-1964

 

[Jesper]

Stelle Veneta: see post #91

As expected post-'64 Stelle Veneta added Olympic colors (star symbol from 6 point to 5 point; very convenient) to their head badge and the statement of "Campione Olimpico" (Olympic Champion). Actual year of this variant is unknown, but the brand was in existence until at least the early '80s with a bike shop (possibly unrelated) of the name Stella Veneta Cicli (in Pinte della Priula near Piave river about 10Km from Conegliano) existing well into the 2000s.

Photo credit: Flowizm on Flickr

Much earlier variant circa mid-late 1930s- '40s

Photo credit: ? from Pinterest

 

[Jesper]

Superba; Padova (est. ?; examples exist from the 1940s. Quoted from the grandson of the founder Guido Marcolongo: "Cycles Superba was founded by my grandfather Guido (whose name I have taken) and then carried on until 1995 by my father, so the company belonged to the Marcolongo family. The company closed due to choices that were too futuristic for the time, in other words technical innovations that only took hold in the mtb/riding bikes in the first decade of the 2000s, but for the time were considered too innovative and viewed with distrust. The factory was initially founded in Padua, in the Portello area where there are now various university buildings (economics, engineering) and then was moved to Sarmeola around the '50s, just outside Padua.")

 

[Jesper]

Doniselli; Milano (est. 1919)

 

[juvela]

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does anyone know if Doniselli and actual manufacturer of cycles?

they had an extensive catalogue of cycles, parts, tools & accessories, similar to the Bozzi & Umberto Dei catalogues

when first began cycle work fifty-two years ago purchased a Doniselli truing stand from Cyclo-Pedia


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[Jesper]

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does anyone know if Doniselli and actual manufacturer of cycles?

they had an extensive catalogue of cycles, parts, tools & accessories, similar to the Bozzi & Umberto Dei catalogues

when first began cycle work fifty-two years ago purchased a Doniselli truing stand from Cyclo-Pedia


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Doniselli brothers did indeed build their own bikes. Do they still build frames in-house? I do not know. As far as I know they remain an independent company. Early on they did contract work for other shops, but I have no idea as to the time period. I only have the head badge, and I have not knowingly owned any of their bikes, but I might have had a rebranded one without knowledge of its true origin.

@juvela I have a small request for you and others. When posting badge examples to this thread please provide, in print, the badge's marque so that it may be easily searched for. I already find myself going back to review examples, but I end up having to go to each post to search for examples. I would hope that this thread could be readily used for others who are using it for reference purposes. I will, with your permission, re-post (possibly with some image enhancement editing) your examples so as to provide marque differentiation facilitating website searches. I am still finding small boxes of badges I stashed away upon various moves so there are many more to come. As you have done, I also have many examples downloaded without being able to credit its image origin so I will post them as I see fit if I cannot find any way to credit them. Most are from online sales so they are usually digitally ephemeral and are no longer able to be searched for online. Thanks, Jesper

 

[juvela]

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thank you

please feel free to do as you wish with any images posted by me


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[Jesper]

Ciclo Ceriz; Padova (est. ?; another Cesare Rizzato marque; "CRP"=  Cesare Rizzato  Padova. Examples of bikes from 1940s-70s; there is a triangular badge that I believe is from the 70s, but I have no example or image. Not sure who built their frames, but examples of these bikes are readily available; all seemingly to be "city" style bikes)

40s-mid 50s? I believe the polished badge is the same as the top image, but with paint removed.

50s-60s? , and later?

Photo credit: Raffaele2001 from La Bici d'Epoca site

 

[Gerrit]

Some Italian headbadges from my collection.
I am not sure if the two Carrara are from Italy ,I can’t find that name in the list with Italian brand names .

Atala

Cinelli

Aurelia

Bianchi

Bianchi

Bottecchia

Carrera

 

[Jesper]

Some Italian headbadges from my collection.
I am not sure if the two Carrara are from Italy ,I can’t find that name in the list with Italian brand names .

Thank you for your contributions @Gerrit Could you edit your post to include the badge makes above the photos? That will assist others when searching this forum thread looking for reference examples. (Note: I can do it, but I would need to create another post using your images, which is much more time consuming)

There is a Carraro marque that is quite old (est. circa 1920) and was founded by Giovanni Carraro from the Padova area.

The Carrera marque is much newer (I think from the '80s) based out of Calcinato, Brescia.

Carrara is a French marque by Emile Carrara; from 40s? or 50s.