SHERIDAN, WYOMING – May 14, 2025 – A new book launched today at the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese marks 75 years of collaboration between Alfa Romeo and the Carabinieri Corps, one of the most enduring institutional partnerships in Italian automotive history. Titled Carabinieri and Alfa Romeo – for Italy, the volume traces how Alfa Romeo vehicles have accompanied Italy's police force through every major chapter of the republic, from post-war reconstruction to the fight against organized crime. Published by Giunti and Giorgio Nada Editore, the book is authored by Danilo Moriero and Lorenzo Ardizio, with original photography by Alessandro Barteletti and Paolo Carlini. It is a document of Italian social history told through the cars that policed it.
The Book Launch at Alfa Romeo Museum Arese
The event took place in the Museum's "Beauty" area, flanked by two cars that frame the entire arc of the partnership: the 1900 M "Matta" from 1951, the very first Alfa Romeo delivered in Carabinieri livery, and the current Giulia Quadrifoglio, now used by the special services. Present at the launch were Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Ficili, Carabinieri Commanding General Lt. Gen. Salvatore Luongo, and museum curator and co-author Lorenzo Ardizio. A commemorative logo marking the 75th anniversary was also unveiled at the event — a graphic built around the number 75, integrating the Biscione serpent emblem and the Carabinieri Flame into a single contemporary design.
The Museum already houses a dedicated "Alfa Romeo in Uniform" section, inaugurated in June 2020 to mark the brand's 110th anniversary, where visitors can see many of the vehicles that served operationally over the decades.
Five Chapters, Five Eras of Italian History
The book's structure is its strength. Rather than organizing content purely by model chronology, the five chapters follow the broader timeline of republican Italy, using the Carabinieri's Alfa Romeos as a lens onto each era.
Chapter 1 opens with the 1900 M "Matta" of 1951 — a rugged, utilitarian off-road vehicle that marked the official start of the partnership during Italy's post-war rebuilding period. Chapter 2 moves into the economic boom years with the 1968 Giulia Super, a fast, refined sedan that balanced operational performance with the elegance the brand is historically known for. Chapter 3 confronts the Years of Lead through the 1979 Alfetta 2.0 "Protetta," an armored sedan deployed in escort duties during one of the most dangerous periods in modern Italian civic life. That detail alone gives the book genuine weight.
Chapter 4 covers the anti-organized crime campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s, represented by the 1987 Alfa 90 and 1992 Alfa 75. Chapter 5 documents the most recent decades through a sequence running from the 1999 Alfa 156 and 2006 Alfa 159, through the 2016 Giulietta and 2021 Giulia, up to the 2023 Tonale and 2025 Stelvio. The final pages close with an interview with the commander of Rome's mobile radio unit.
What the Partnership Has Meant Beyond the Vehicles
The book includes a preface by Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, contributions from Commanding General Luongo, a message from Ficili, and an introduction by Ardizio. That level of institutional involvement signals this is not a standard automotive retrospective.
Ficili described the collaboration as part of Italy's collective memory, noting that Alfa Romeo vehicles have accompanied Carabinieri officers through daily missions across every decade, becoming genuine icons of Italian automotive and institutional culture. Luongo framed it differently — pointing out that for Italian citizens, a recognizable Carabinieri vehicle approaching is itself a signal of security and state presence. The car is not just a tool. It carries meaning.
That distinction — operational value versus symbolic value — runs through the book and gives it resonance beyond the automotive audience it will inevitably attract first.
Who This Book Is For and Where to Find It
This is not a coffee-table book in the decorative sense. The archival research, testimonies, and institutional contributions make it genuinely useful for readers interested in Italian social history, postwar European policing, or the long relationship between industrial brands and state institutions. Automotive history enthusiasts will find it rewarding on a purely mechanical level too — the model-by-model progression through Alfa Romeo's lineup reads as a compressed history of Italian car design across seven decades.
For visitors to the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, the "Alfa Romeo in Uniform" section provides a direct physical companion to the book, with many of the featured vehicles on display.
Quick Facts: Carabinieri and Alfa Romeo – for Italy
- Published by Giunti and Giorgio Nada Editore
- Authors: Danilo Moriero and Lorenzo Ardizio; photography by Alessandro Barteletti and Paolo Carlini
- Five chapters covering 1951 to 2025, from the 1900 M "Matta" to the Stelvio
- Launched at Alfa Romeo Museum, Arese, alongside the 75th anniversary commemorative logo
- Institutional prefaces by Italy's Minister of Defense and Carabinieri Commanding General