Nicola Romeo was born in
S. Antimo near
Naples in
1876. He graduated in
engineering in
1900 and
spent some years gaining work
experience abroad. He then returned to
Italy where in
1911 he
founded the company "Ing.
Nicola Romeo e Co." to manufacture mining machinery and equipment.
n
1915 that company purchased the
Portello factory and began manufacturing military equipment;
World War I had started and the
Italian government had increasingly urgent need of trucks and engines.
When
the War ended in
1918 the company changed its name to "Società Anonima Ing.
Nicola Romeo & Co." having taken over a number of smaller firms: Officine
Meccaniche di Saronno, Office Meccaniche
Tabanelli of Rome and Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali of Naples. Formally constituted by the notary Federico Guasti in
Milan on
February 3 1918, the new company proclaimed its purpose to be the construction and management of engineering, steel,
agricultural, mining, chemicals and quarrying companies with
particular emphasis on
military,
aviation,
marine and
agricultural equipment,
internal combustion engines for all possible applications;
aeroplanes,
automobiles,
locomotives and other
wheeled transport.
As the
memorandum of association made clear,
Nicola Romeo had no intention of confining his
firm to manufacturing cars though in the end it was cars the company was to become famous for. He also took care to surround himself with
superlative engineers, men like
Giuseppe Merosi,
Vittorio Jano and many others.
In the
Twenties, the company became involved in another
crisis
this time linked to its majority
shareholder the Banca Italiana di
Sconto. Indeed things got so bad that in
1927 there were even
thoughts of
liquidation. Luckily by that time Alfa Romeo had made
a name for itself both in
Italy and abroad and had established
trade relations with
America,
Spain and
Britain among others.
Such a
world famous company could not be closed down,
especially since it could easily be rescued if it was thoroughly
restructured.
However
Nicola Romeo, chairman since
1918, would not accept
the
drastic changes intended and in
1928 he severed all
connection with
Alfa Romeo on the grounds of [irreconcilable
differences. In
1933 the company was taken over by
IRI, the
Italian state holding company. The
IRI plan for internal
restructuring that would gradually restore the company to health
involved the
appointment of a
Management Committee elected on
a
50-50 basis by the shareholders and the
employees. It was to
be the Committee's task to draft new company articles and take measures to set
Alfa Romeo on an
equal competitive footing with other motor manufacturers
....