In 1906 Societa Italiana Automobili Darracq was set up to produce low cost cars.  The company was initially successful but as the car market slowed, it began to struggle and the factory in Milan’s Portello area was sold to car enthusiasts, Anonima Lomarda Fabbrica Automobilii (Alfa).  When Alfa’s finances also dried up, the company was bought by engineer Nicola Romeo and his company, Accomandita Ing Nicola Romeo e Co.

Nicola Romeo’s motivation for purchasing the Alfa company was to gain control of the Portello factory and use it to manufacture military equipment for WW1 – not to produce cars. But when Romeo was asked by the Italian Government to build trucks, Alfa Romeo's vehicle manufacture began.

After the war ended the company had to switch to providing products that were needed in peacetime. With help from government subsidies they solved the problem by specializing in the manufacture of cars, which also led to them to compete in motorsport.

Although successful, Alfa was again beset with problems with the collapse of its majority shareholder, the Banca Italiana di Sconto. The company was rescued but the changes that were made proved too much for Nicola Romeo and he resigned in 1928.

Under General Manager Ugo Gobbato, who had joined the company many years before, Alfa Romeo returned to strength in the late 1930s. The Portello factory grew to employ 6,000 people and construction began of a new factory in Southern Italy at Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples.

This growth was not wholly due to car production however. With war on the horizon, Alfa Romeo was militarized by the Government and the company started production of aero engines and light military trucks.

At the end of the war, with Portello severely damaged by bombing, the company's factories were rebuilt with the help of the 5000 dedicated employees. The ailing Southern Italian factory, meanwhile, survived by manufacturing a wide variety of products, including kitchen stoves! It became part of the Alfasud factory in 1967.

In 1948 the company turned its attention back to focusing on cars, and with new Chairman Giuseppe Luraghi at the helm, mass production of new medium sized cars began in the 1950s.

When Portello could no longer meet demand, a new factory was built in Arese, and production rose rapidly from just over 6,100 cars in 1955 to more than 57,000 in 1960.

Soon after, when Alfa Romeo moved into the small car market, the Italian Government put pressure on them to build the factory for its new car at its old Southern Italian site to bring prosperity to that part of the country and help reduce the mass migration from the south to north.

Although the new small car, the Alfasud, was received well, the business suffered again as the world was plunged into an economic downturn that lasted for much of the 1970s.

In 1972 Luraghi left Alfa Romeo and the new chairman, Ettore Masaccesi, eventually turned things around. But despite success in the early 1980s, Alfa Romeo was unable to find a place amongst the competition, fitting neither the mass market nor the specialist market.

After a failed joint venture with Nissan, they went to FIAT in 1986, becoming part of  the Alfa Lancia Spa company in 1987.

The upturn came in 1996 with the launch of the Alfa Romeo GTV and Spider. These were followed in 1997 by the Alfa Romeo 156, which won the European Car of the Year award in 1998.

In 2000 Alfa Romeo’s new model launched at the Geneva Motor Show. The Alfa 147 made its debut at the Turin Motor Show prior to its launch at the Paris Motor Show. Alfa Romeo also celebrated its 90th birthday.