Alfa Romeo is a name that brings to mind memories of a great past. And of course it does have a history of great triumphs, racing trophies galore, not to mention giving the great Enzo Ferrari the chance to learn his trade. Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili was formed in 1910.

In 1915 Italy entered the war, the country became gripped in recession, ALFA found itself desperately short of funds. Nicola Romeo came to the rescue. Romeo an electrical engineer, was manufacturing compressors at the time, and wanted to expand his business, so in late 1915 he acquired Alfa's assets.

The new Company needed to restructure, in 1919 a young test driver was employed, his name Enzo Ferrari. Enzo introduced designer Vittorio Jano to Alfa Romeo. Jano a designer of great talent had incredible success with the P2 racecar and brought Alfa Romeo the Grand Prix Championship. The Italian government were hugely impressed and asked Nicola Romeo if he would manufacture, under license, the British aero engine nine-cylinder Bristol Jupiter.

However, by the mid 1920's Alfa Romeo were in financial trouble, too much time and money went into achieving racing success and not enough on producing and selling road cars. The company could not meet its own running costs. A major banking consortium took over and instructed a massive reorganisation. Nicola Romeo was replaced as president of the company by Ugo Ojetti.

The Italian governments invitation to Alfa Romeo to build aero engines could not have helped matters, but it was an invitation Alfa Romeo couldn't refuse, because of the prestige and honour of doing such valuable government work. But the costs of setting up aero engine production did not help Alfa Romeo's plight.

Nearly all Alfa Romeo's production capacity was now taken up with the manufacture of aircraft engines, including the new government contract to produce the seven-cylinder Armstrong-Siddley Lynx. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash brought near collapse of Alfa Romeo, then later Milan was shaken by the news that Alfa Romeo could not continue trading without outside help. Mussolini decided that Alfa Romeo was a company of great national importance and pride, and should become state-owned.

When World War II began, Alfa Romeo ceased building cars; the company's efforts were put into building aero engines, buses and engines for ships. When the war was over Alfa Romeo returned to car building, eventually with great success. Alfa Romeo was now set for a financially stable future.

In 1986 the Italian government decided that they should release some of their holdings, and Alfa Romeo came up for sale. Two bidders announced offers, Ford and Fiat. Undoubtedly the Ford bid was the best but the Italian public were outraged that Alfa Romeo could end up in American hands. Due to public pressure, politicians had no alternative and sold Alfa Romeo to Fiat.

The badge is an adaptation of the arms of the Visconti family, who held the Duchy of Milan. The red cross denotes the Christian Crusades against Islam from the 10th to the 13th century. The serpent with the human in its mouth is in honour of Umberto of Angera, where legend tells of a serpent roaming the area in the fifth century devoured humans. Umberto of Angera, the founder of the family is said to have slain the beast.

Alfa Romeo:

147 - Ins Group 11-14

159- Ins Group 11-14

GT - 1.9 JLDM Coupe, Ins Group 15 | 2.0 JTS Coupe, Ins Group 16 | 3.2 V6 24v Coupe Ins Group 19

Brera - Ins Group 16 + (estimated)

Alfa Insurance: Churchill

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