ROME – It could only be called Giotto, one of the greatest car creators left in the history of engines. Bizzarrini, 96, died yesterday in Rosignano in the province of Livorno where he was in a nursing home.
To understand the importance and value of his work as an engineer, designer and entrepreneur, it is enough to remember the names of two car legends, the Ferrari 250 GTO and the Testarossa. Unforgettable models which, together with the various versions of the Ferrari 250 (250 GT SWB, 250 Spider California, 250 Gto) also made Bizzarrini’s memory eternal.
The return of the IsoRivolta between luxury and legends
by Marco Tullio Giordana
Giotto, after graduating from the University of Pisa in 1954, immediately joined Alfa Romeo to move to Ferrari after only three years. It is here that the partnership with the engineer Carlo Chiti was born with whom he founded, together with Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, ATS Spa, an acronym for Automobiles, Tourism and Sport. Soiety that however did not last very long. Bizzarrini, in fact, gives life to the Autostar in Livorno with the aim of designing new engines. Among his clients there will also be Ferruccio Lamborghini for whom he built the famous V12. In 1964 he founded Prototipi Bizzarrini which became Bizzarrini spa in 1966, starting to produce what was to be one of the most beautiful, powerful and fastest Italian GTs of the 1960s: the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, capable of reaching 280 km/h.
The business was closed in 1969 together with the entrepreneurial profession of Giotto Bizzarrini (the brand will be taken over in 1998 by a new company). From that moment on, the engineer became a consultant for automotive companies, collaborating in the design of some prototypes such as the BZ 2001 (spider on Ferrari mechanics.
The second life of the historic Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta
by Daniele PM Pellegrini
On 23 October 2012 he was awarded an honorary Master’s Degree in Design by the University of Florence at the new headquarters in Calenzano (Florence), inaugurated the same day with him present. Last autumn Livorno celebrated the genius of Bizzarrini with an exhibition inside the Hangar Creativi.