Foundation Anniversary: Lancia — November 29, 1906

Lancia & C. was constituted in Turin in 1906 as a general partnership between Vincenzo Lancia and Claudio Fogolin, colleagues as test drivers at Fiat, with a capital of 100,000 lire divided equally between them. To begin work they rented a building between via Ormea and via Donizetti, left empty by Itala, where some thirty workers built the cars. A fire in February 1907 destroyed drawings and foundry patterns and damaged the machinery, and the first year of trading closed with a loss; the 12 HP, better known as the Alfa, came out that same year.

A note on this date. The two institutional sources disagree on the day. The Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani gives 29 November 1906; MuseoTorino, the City of Turin's historical catalogue, gives 29 October 1906. This anniversary follows the Dizionario Biografico, and the divergence is stated here rather than hidden. We publish it with the warning rather than leave the page out, and if you can point us to a register or an archive that carries it we will confirm or correct it.

Dates verified on Treccani and MuseoTorino.