The Third Logo Car: The Rich History Behind the Maserati Logo

This is where the story splits between truth and fiction. The first story, and the more likely of the two, says that a family friend Marquis Diego de Sterlich suggested to Mario that he use the trident in the emblem. The symbol of the Roman gladiator and the god Neptune, the trident symbolizes power, strength, power, attractiveness, and balance. It’s everything the Maserati brothers wanted their sports car to be while also being completely unique.

The alternative story is more interesting but not entirely far-fetched, and it’s the one we like to believe. With his work in hand, Mario gave a shout of inspiration and went out to gather his thoughts. Walking the streets of Bologna, he traveled from street to street, finally ending up in Piazza Maggiore.

Walking to the end of the Piazza, he came across its famous fountain with a beautiful statue of Neptune holding his beautiful triangle. This iconic symbol of Bologna allegedly inspired him to include the three symbols in the logo, which is a pretty interesting story if you ask us.

Luckily, we even have photos of his original artwork seen above.

Since it first graced the Tipo 26 in 1926, it has graced every Maserati for the past 90 years. Originally, it had a black trident logo on a rectangular metal badge. Still, a short time later, in 1931, it received an even bigger change, being changed from rectangular to oval so that it could fit the new curved radiators.

It featured different color schemes over time but always combined red, white and blue. The red trident is meant to symbolize Maserati’s strong power, and most likely to emphasize the Italian red color of the original cars. Blue represents the ocean as a nod to Neptune’s domain, and the source of his power, and white/silver represents the land where Maserati rules the road.