Biscione (pronounced bisch-sho-nee)
Pre 1100: An
Italian word, the construct being bisci(a) (snake) + -one (the
augmentative suffix). Biscione is a masculine augmentative of the Italian
feminine noun biscia (grass snake, a corrupted
form of the Late Latin & Vulgar Latin bīstia),
from bēstia (beast) of unknown
origin. Biscione is a noun; the noun plural biscioni (used in English also as bisciones).
(1) In heraldry,
a heraldic device consisting of a large snake “giving birth” to a child through
its mouth (not devouring the infant as it may appear).
(2) A
surname of Italian origin.
The
Biscione is known also as the vipera
(viper) and in the Milanese dialect as the bissa. In heraldry, the symbol is used as a charge (any
emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon (shield)), over Argent (a
tincture of silver which appears usually as a shade of white) and often in Azure
(a range of blue). The snake is depicted
in the act of “giving birth” to a human through its mouth and while anatomically
improbable, it was doubtless always understood and something symbolic. Historically, what emerged was depicted as a
child but in the more sensitive twentieth century this tended to be blurred
into something recognizable merely as “human of no distinct age or gender”. It has been the emblem of the Italian
Visconti family for almost a millennium.
Although it’s
not thought related, serpents have much occupied the minds of those in
Christendom, notably the one coiled around the lush foliage in the Garden of Eden
who tempted Eve with forbidden fruit, her weakness leading to the downfall of
mankind and our eternal sin, thus establishing one of the central tenants of
the Church: Women are to blame for everything bad. There’s also a reference to beasts and a
new-born child about to be devoured in the vivid imagery of chapter 12:1-4 in the
New Testament’s Book of Revelation (King James Version (KJV, 1611)):
1 And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being
with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there
appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven
heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Not wholly improbable as an Eve for the third millennium, while on holiday in Thailand, just after Christmas 2017, Lindsay Lohan was bitten by a snake and while said to have made a full recovery, there was never any word on fate of serpent. The syndicated story on the internet attracted comment from the grammar Nazis who demanded it be verified the snake really was on holiday in Thailand.
Alfa Romeo and the biscione
Alfa Romeo Automobiles SpA is based in the northern Italian city of Turin and for much of the twentieth it wrote an illustrious history on road and track before losing its way in the 1980s; it’s now one of the fourteen brands under the corporate umbrella of the multinational Stellantis (headquartered (for various reasons) in the Netherlands). Alfa Romeo was founded in 1910 as A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (which translates literally as “the Anonymous car company of Lombardy”). It was in 1915 A.L.F.A. was acquired by Italian Engineer Nicola Romeo (1876–1938) who in 1920 added his name and turned the company into an industrial conglomerate encompassing not only passenger & racing cars but also a product range as diverse as heavy machinery, aero engines and a bus & truck division.
The Anonima (anonymous) was a reference to the legal structure of a “Società anonima” (S.A) which designated a class of limited liability company, a common device still in countries which have maintained the traditions of the Code Napoléon (the codified Napoleonic civil law (1804)). Originally, it provided for shareholders remaining anonymous and able to collect dividends by surrendering coupons attached to their share certificates in an “over-the-counter” transaction, paid to whoever held the paper. The attraction was the certificates could be transferred in secret and thus nobody (not the company management nor the regulatory authorities) necessarily knew who owned the shares. That system was obviously open to abuse and abuse there was, tax evasion, money laundering, related party transactions and bribery soon rife, prompting governments to legislate and while SAs and the later SpAs (Società per azioni, most accurately translated as “joint-stock company”) no longer offer shareholders the same degree of anonymity, devices such as intricate structures made up of trusts, and holding companies can be used to at least obscure the identities of ultimate beneficiaries. The tradition of concealment continues in many places, including common law jurisdictions in which the Code Napoléon was never part of the legal system. Some are more helpful than others and although, despite the urban myth, it’s apparently never been possible to turn up at the counter of the famously “flexible” Delaware Division of Corporations and register an entity as being owned by "M. Mouse, D. Duck & E. Bunny", the US state is said still to be “most accommodating”.
Whether
true or not, the industry legend is the Alfa Romeo logo was adopted because
high on the wall of the Filarete Tower in Milan’s Piazza Castello were mounted several
heraldic interpretations of the Biscione Visconteo, the coat of arms of the
city of Milan and of the Visconti family which first ruled it in 1277 when Ottone
Visconti assumed the Dominium Mediolanense (Lordship of Milan). Late in 1910, waiting for the No. 14 tram to
arrive for his journey home, was a draftsman from the A.L.F.A. design office and
he was so taken with the symbol he sketched the first take of the corporate logo
which remains in use to this day. The biscione and a representation of Milan's
official flag (a red cross on a white background) are the two elements which
have remained constant in all nine version of the logos used in the last 115
years-odd.
The Alfa Romeo logo since 1910.
The original (1910-1915) version featured a biscione (either
devouring or producing a child, Moor or Ottoman Turk (depending on which legend
one prefers)) while the crown on the snake's head functioned to distinguish the official
Milanese symbol from that used by the Visconti family for various escutcheons while the words ALFA at the top and MILANO at the
bottom were separated by two figure-eight "Savoy Knots," a symbol of
the royal House of Savoy, a branch of which reigned in Italy between
unification in 1861 and the abolition of the monarchy in 1946. The “Romeo” name was appended in 1920, reflecting
the change in the corporate identity and in 1925, a gold laurel leaf surround
was added to commemorate the Alfa Romeo P2’s victories in the European Grand
Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the Italian Grand Prix at
Monza.
Alfa Romeo Typo 158s (Alfetta), 1950 British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit, England, May 1950. The Alfettas finished 1-2-3.
When by referendum, the Italian people voted to establish a republic (the monarchy tainted by its support for the fascist regime (1922-1943) of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943)), the knots from royal regalia were replaced by some nondescript waves but more obvious was the switch from the multi-color design to a simple gold-on-black, a change necessitated by the damage the country’s industrial capacity had suffered during the war, one victim of which was the factory producing the badges. The simplified version was short-lived but suited the times because it was easier to mass-produce with the available machine tools and the heterochromatic look would return in 1950, the year the pre war Alfa Romeo tipo 158 (Alfetta) would prevail in the in inaugural Formula One World Championship, the tipo 159 retaining the driver’s title the following year.
Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria di Savoia (1904–1983) was the last king of Italy, his reign as Umberto II lasting but thirty-four days during May-June 1946; Italians nicknamed him the Re di Maggio (May king) although some better-informed Romans preferred regina di maggio (May queen). At the instigation of the US and British political representatives of the allied military authorities, in April 1944 he was appointed regent because it was clear popular support for Victor Emmanuel III (1869-1947; king of Italy 1900-1946) had collapsed. Despite Victor Emmanuel’s reputation suffering by association, his relationship with the fascists had often been uneasy and, seeking means to blackmail the royal house, Mussolini’s spies compiled a dossier (reputably several inches thick), detailing the ways of his son’s private life. Then styled Prince of Piedmont, the secret police discovered Umberto was a sincere and committed Roman Catholic but one unable to resist his "satanic homosexual urges” and his biographer agreed, noting the prince was "forever rushing between chapel and brothel, confessional and steam bath" often spending hours “praying for divine forgiveness.” After a referendum abolished the monarchy, Umberto II lived his remaining 37 years in exile, never again setting foot on Italian soil. His turbulent marriage to Princess Marie-José of Belgium (1906-2001) produced four children but historians consider it quite possible none of them were his.
Benito Mussolini in 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS, Rome, April 1931. The 6C was in almost continuous production between 1927-1954, a few hundred made even during World War II (1939-1945).
In 1960
only detail changes to the logo were introduced but in 1972, not only did the wavy line
vanish but so did “Milano”, a recognition the company had opened a new
production plant at Pomigliano d'Arco near the southern city of Naples, built
to construct the new Alfasud (the construct being Alfa + sud (south)),
something encouraged (and subsidized) by the national government, anxious to
reduce crime and unemployment in the south.
The Alfasud was an outstanding design but, for a variety of reasons including
appalling industrial relation and political instability, the plant Neapolitan
was beset by problems which were visited upon the unfortunate Alfasud, many of
which rusted away with some haste. As if
to exorcise the memory of the Alfasud, in 1982 the design was again revised,
producing what has to date proved the longest-lasting iteration, remaining in
use until 2014. It was essentially a
modernization exercise, the graphics simplified and the font switched to the starker
Futura font, the revision in 2015 more subtly austere still.
1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super Biscione.
The “Biscione”
version (1969-1973) of the Alfa Romeo Giulia (type 105, 1962-1978) was
mechanically identical to other Giulias built at the same time, the package
exclusively a trim level, the same concept Ford used in their “Ghia” ranges,
the badge added to various blinged-up models between 1973-2008. The trim features which appeared on the Biscione
Giulias weren’t always exclusive, some appearing at various times on other
Giulias but there seems to have been a standard specification for the Bisciones
(that plural form preferable in this context) and all included:
A sunken Alfa
Romeo badge on the trunk (boot) lid.
A chrome centre
strip on the hood (bonnet).
Chrome strips
on A pillar & roof.
Chrome spears
on the rockers (used also on the Berlina models and different from those on other Gulias).
Green snake
badges (ie biscioni) on the C pillars (external).
A partially
black headliner.
Chrome
surroundings on the B pillar interior light switches.
Velour
& moquette used for floor coverings rather than rubber mats.
Silvio Berlusconi, Fininvest and the biscione.
M2 corporate logo (left) and Fininvest corporate logo (right).
Finanziaria di Investimento-Fininvest
SpA (Fininvest) is a
holding company which holds the equity division of the Berlusconi family. It was founded in by the estimable Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023; prime minister of Italy 1994-1995, 2001-2006 &
2008-2011) who has thus far proved irreplaceable in the part he played on the
European political stage. Like many
things associated with Mr Berlusconi, Fininvest has not been without controversy
including intriguing accounts of the way its initial capital was provided in
physical cash (unfortunately whether the bundles of lira notes were emptied from suitcases,
paper bags or potato sacks has never been disclosed) and the curious phenomena of
the way in which laws under which the company or its founder were facing
charges mysteriously were repealed prior to the cases going to trial. Fininvest is now chaired by Mr Berlusconi’s
oldest daughter, Maria "Marina" Berlusconi (b 1966).