Alfa Romeo is an Italian motor-car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1906 as 'Societa Italiana Automobili Darracq' with the aim of manufacturing low cost Darracq motor cars. That company quickly ran into difficulties when the once booming car market began to falter. In 1910 the Darracq factory that had been built in the Portello district of Milan was sold to a group of Italian car enthusiasts who called themselves 'Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili' (ALFA). Success was to be short lived, because the company went into liquidation in 1915, and was then taken over by an engineer and entrepreneur called Nicola Romeo. After the Great War the company changed its name to 'Societa Anonima Ing. Nicola Romeo & Co.' having taken over several smaller firms: Officine Meccaniche di Saronno, Officine Meccaniche Tabanelli of Rome and Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali of Naples. Formally constituted by the notary, Federico Guasti, in Milan on February the 3rd 1918, the new company proclaimed its purpose to be 'the
construction and management of engineering, steel, agricultural, mining, chemical and quarrying companies, with particular emphasis on military, aviation, marine and agricultural equipment, internal combustion engines for all possible applications: aeroplanes, automobiles, locomotive and other wheeled transport.' Today Alfa Romeo is known for its range of sporty motor-cars. Research Alfa Romeo