Foundation Anniversary: Maserati — December 14, 1914

Officine Alfieri Maserati opened in December 1914 in Bologna, in vicolo Pepoli, a few steps from piazza Santo Stefano. Alfieri Maserati had been sent to the city by Isotta Fraschini, with his brother Ettore, to run its local service shop; in 1914 he decided to work for himself, and the new workshop, with five employees, serviced and tuned Isotta Fraschini cars along with those of other makes. When war broke out both brothers were called up and the youngest, Ernesto, was left to look after the shop. The business was re-founded as a joint-stock company in July 1929, with its seat in via Emilia Levante.

A note on this date. The day is not settled. The Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani gives 14 December 1914; the Comune di Bologna's chronology dates the opening of the workshop to 1 December 1914. This anniversary follows the Dizionario Biografico, which is the source that carries the day in a sentence. 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, Storia e Memoria di Bologna and Biblioteca Salaborsa.