25 Facts About Giotto Bizzarrini

Giotto Bizzarrini was an Italian automobile engineer who was active from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Giotto Bizzarrini gained a reputation for identifying and solving problems and was head hunted by Ferrari in 1957.

Giotto Bizzarrini's responsibility increased until he became sports car development chief at Ferrari in the late 1950s, working on such notable projects as the Ferrari 250 GTO.

Giotto Bizzarrini was born in Quercianella, Livorno Province, the son of a rich landowner from Livorno.

Giotto Bizzarrini's grandfather, named Giotto Bizzarrini, was a biologist who had worked with Guglielmo Marconi on his inventions, especially the radio, following which one of the Livorno Library sections was named The Bizzarrini Library.

Giotto Bizzarrini received an engineering degree from the University of Pisa in 1953.

Giotto Bizzarrini's design thesis in his senior year was a complete redesign of a used Fiat Topolino, in which he modified the engine for increased power and relocated it in the chassis for improved handling.

Giotto Bizzarrini was assigned to the development of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta chassis, which was disappointing, as he aspired to become a powerplant engineer.

Giotto Bizzarrini was later able to move to the Experimental Department, receiving on-the-job training to become a test driver.

Giotto Bizzarrini left Alfa Romeo in 1957 and went to Ferrari when that company needed a test driver.

Giotto Bizzarrini was quickly promoted to controller of experimental, Sports and GT car development.

Giotto Bizzarrini worked for five years at Ferrari as chief engineer.

Giotto Bizzarrini worked as a developer, designer, and skilled test driver.

For one of the most successful Ferrari racing series, the 250, Giotto Bizzarrini worked hard to develop the chassis, engines, and advanced dynamic solutions.

Giotto Bizzarrini moved the engine well back into the chassis and lowered it to improve weight distribution and handling.

In 1961, Giotto Bizzarrini was one of the "famous five" engineers who left Ferrari in the so-called "Ferrari night of the Long Knives", provoked by a reorganisation of the engineering staff.

In 1962, Giotto Bizzarrini was hired by Count Giovanni Volpi, owner of the Scuderia Serenissima Republica di Venezia, to upgrade a Ferrari 250 GT SWB to GTO specification.

Giotto Bizzarrini applied all the ideas from the GTO and developed with Piero Drogo of Carrozzeria Sports Cars in the Modena works an aerodynamically advanced body, even lower than the GTO, with the roof line dramatically extended to the rear end, then abruptly truncated following the Kamm aerodynamic theory.

In 1962 Giotto Bizzarrini founded Societa Autostar, an engineering firm through which he would bid for freelance engineering projects.

Giotto Bizzarrini SpA is best known for the Giotto Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, produced between 1965 and 1968.

Giugiaro's Italdesign was founded on 13 February 1968, with a forty-day target to build their first design based on the Giotto Bizzarrini Grifo racing car with a deadline date for the Turin Motor Show in April.

Giotto Bizzarrini SpA was declared bankrupt in 1969, which ended Giotto Bizzarrini's days as an automobile manufacturer.

Giotto Bizzarrini taught and worked at Rome University, developing advanced projects and designing, building, and developing his own sport cars.

Giotto Bizzarrini was often quoted as saying: "I'm not a car designer, I am a worker".

On 23 October 2012, during the inauguration of the University of Florence's new Design Campus in Calenzano, Professor Giotto Bizzarrini was given the Honoris Causa Degree in Industrial Design.