- Presented on April 20th, 1955 at the Turin Motor Show, the Giulietta Berlina marked Alfa Romeo’s definitive transition from custom to industrial production, bringing style and sporting technology to Italians’ everyday lives.
- With over 130,000 models produced between 1955 and 1964, the Giulietta Berlina redefined the concept of the mid-size car, essentially creating the premium and high-performance category.
- Equipped with cutting-edge solutions for the time, including a 1290 cc, twin-camshaft aluminum engine, the Giulietta was the first mass-produced saloon with these mechanical features and characteristics.
- An Italian pop-culture icon, the Giulietta made cameos in cult films such as Dino Risi’s Opiate ’67, appeared on the first cover of Quattroruote magazine in February 1965, and was celebrated by huge stars like Giulietta Masina.
On April 20th, 1955 at the Turin Motor Show, Alfa Romeo introduced the Giulietta Berlina, a vehicle destined to change the Italian automotive industry forever. Elegant, technologically advanced, affordable, and sporty, the Giulietta Berlina embodied the dream of an entire generation and went on to become a symbol of Italy’s economic boom. Exactly 70 years on, Stellantis Heritage and Alfa Romeo are paying homage to a model which marked a definitive transition from custom to industrial production. It all began with 1900, but the Giulietta led Alfa Romeo into the future, taking the brand’s technical prowess to an industrial level.
Roberto Giolito, Head of Heritage Stellantis, stated: “The Giulietta Berlina brought Alfa Romeo’s sporty DNA to the everyday lives of Italians, bringing fine engineering and aspirations within the reach of an emerging middle class. This model was able to blend the prestige of the Biscione’s sporty vehicles with the functionality of a family car, establishing itself as a symbol of progress and rebirth in Post-War Italy.”
At the beginning of the Fifties, Alfa Romeo—fresh off winning two consecutive Formula 1 titles with the Alfetta driven by Farina in 1950 and Fangio in 2951—felt the need to expand its production and reach to a larger audience whilst preserving its style, technology, and high performance. With this in mind, the Giulietta was born: a compact, modern, and affordable car which was capable of maintaining the competitive and refined spirit of the Biscione’s vehicles. However, surprisingly, it was the Giulietta Sprint coupé, and not the saloon, which debuted first at the Turin Motor Show in 1954. Designed by Franco Scaglione for Bertone, the Sprint—a high-performance compact coupé with an engine under 1500 cc—received an overwhelmingly positive reception.
Notably, the same designer created the“2000 Sportiva” from the same period, the later “Giulietta Sprint Speciale”, and the incredible 1967 “33 Stradale”. On the heels of the success of the 1900, Alfa Romeo presented a smaller coupé with superior performance at the 1954 Turin Motor Show. This would mark the Biscione’s debut in the compact category—engines under 1500 cc—and be the first time a coupé was presented before a saloon.
Alfa Romeo used the charm and sportiness of the Sprint to create a buzz for the arrival of the Giulietta Berlina, to be released the following year, and planned for a limited production run. However, the reception the Giulietta Sprint received changed everything. After the Turin Motor Show, Alfa Romeo dealers were taken by storm and the Giulietta Sprint was an instant commercial hit, leading Alfa Romeo to speed up the development of the saloon. Thus, on April 20th, 2995, the Giulietta Berlina made its debut, marking the first time that such a powerful compact model was packaged as a family vehicle. Following the 1900, the Milan-based company had developed its concept of a normal-sized sporty saloon. Alfa Romeo called it “the family car which wins races”. Capable of breaking records in the hands of gentlemen drivers and future champions, its slogan stated that “mom also drives it”. Thus, a new era began and Alfa Romeo was a pioneer of the concept of “sporty driving within everyone’s reach.”
It could be argued that the Giulietta invented a new class of 1300-cc vehicles which was destined to become a European standard. Not to mention that there were no mass-produced saloons in the world which could match the Giulietta’s mechanics and performance. That’s why it was a gamechanger. And, as proof of Alfa Romeo’s legacy, this model still holds up after all these years. Specifically, the design was developed by the Ufficio Stile Alfa Romeo and references elements of the Sprint on the front in anticipation of the future lineup’s aesthetic identity—what today we call the “family feeling”. Technically advanced, the Giulietta made use of state-of-the-art solutions for the time. For example, there was a 1290 cc, twin-camshaft engine under the hood which supplied 53 hp and reached a top speed of 140 km/h, which was incredible for the time, thanks to its low weight of 870 kg. The Giulietta’s refined engine was made out of aluminum (an absolute first for the motoring world) as was the gearbox and differential casing. The cylinder liners are press-fitted in special cast iron. The valve system was a twin overhead cam configuration (unique for a small power unit at that time) while the crankshaft was mounted on five bearings.
The rear-wheel drive car was also noteworthy for its gear shift on the steering wheel (a clutch lever became available as an alternative in 1957) and the pull-on handbrake located beneath the facia to the left of the steering wheel. The front suspension was also independent with coil springs, wishbones and a stabilizer bar. The rear suspension was independent with coil springs, upper wishbones and struts. Braking was assured by four drums produced using a special Alfa Romeo casting procedure.
It is also worth noting that the production of the Giulietta Berlina also marked a turning point for Alfa Romeo. Although mass production began with the 1900, the Giulietta was the vehicle that transformed the Portello plant into a modern factory. At the beginning of the Fifties, the Milan plant was still set up for custom production, unable to churn out more than 50 vehicles a day. With the Giulietta, and the interventions of Austrian engineer Rudolf sHruska, the entire process was redesigned: new assembly lines were created, workflow was reorganized, and the production phases were streamlined. In just a few years, Portello was capable of producing up to 200 cars a day, quadrupling its capacity. This quantitative evolution went hand in hand with a cultural one: Alfa Romeo was no longer just an elite brand, but a leader in the European automotive industry.
The Giulietta became part of the Italian collective imagination and an icon of style and progress. It appeared in films like Dino Risi’s Opiate ’67 next to movie stars such as Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren and Vittorio Gassman. In 1960, model 100,001 was famously celebrated by Fellini’s muse, Giulietta Masina, further solidifying the car’s connection to Italian culture. Interestingly, in yet another example of its technical and symbolic importance, the Giulietta Berlina appeared on the first cover of Quattroruote magazine in February 1956. The very name “Giulietta” is part of its legend, with two competing versions which attest to its origin. One states that the idea came from Madame De Cousandier, the wife of the poet Leonardo Sinisgalli; while the other tells of a Russian prince who, while at an event in Paris in 1950, addressed Alfa Romeo managers with a joke: “There are eight Romeos among you and not one Juliet?”. Four years later, the first-born Giulietta Sprint was introduced, followed by countless other versions over the years like the Berlina, the Spider designed by Pininfarina with the USA market in mind (like the Sprint, available also in the Veloce version), the Sprint Speciale designed by Bertone once again, and the Giulietta SZ by Zagato. There would even be a station wagon called the Promiscua. From 1954 to 1965, 177,690 Giulietta vehicles were produced across all versions, including 130,000 Berlina.
In short, unprecedented performance, track-inspired driving dynamics, and an unmistakable design not only make the Giulietta a cornerstone of Alfa Romeo history, but also make it a symbol of Italian identity which is capable of combining technology and poetry, speed and grace, dream and reality. And its legacy would be passed on to the equally legendary Giulia, which perfected the Giulietta’s features in terms of performance and innovation and carried on with the Alfa Romeo tradition of creating compact cars for a higher segment.
