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The muscular Ducati motorcycles, flashing with their iconic red colour, go a long way back to become the international stars that they are today...

The story begins in Bologna when Antonio Cavalieri Ducati, along with his three sons, Adriano, Marcello and Bruno, decided to put their shared passion for electronics into practice. They developed the very first radio connection between Italy and America in 1924, which was purchased by the Italian Navy Ministry for fleet communications. After this success, the Ducati family opened their first family firm, the 'Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati', devoted to producing radio devices. The Ducatis then stretched their creativeness to produce a range of new products like shavers, interphones, calculators, cameras and jukeboxes. They still never intended to make motorcycles but speed was at the core of all their inventions, and at a time when industrialization was taking shape and pace of life accelerating, these were very successful.

In 1948 and a few cities away in Turin, lawyer Aldo Farinelli created a little engine that could be added onto a bicycle, baptizing it 'cucciolo' - puppet - because of the noise it made. As everyone was riding a bicycle back then, the idea was welcomed with much acclaim, but Farinelli's marketing infrastructure was too limited to diffuse the concept. The Ducatis' fame and engineering background made them the ideal recipient of its propagation and their contribution allowed cucciolo to really soar in success. The added engine allowed a bicycle to move across 100 km with just 1 litre of fuel, and with a maximum speed of 40 mph - a great accomplishment at this period. The region's first motorcycle - a bicycle with a motor - was created. Cuccioli became such a part of locals' life that a song was made of it: 'come with me, I will take you on the cucciolo.... the engine is small.... but it beats with my heart…' 

In 1950 the Ducatis took full ownership rights of cucciolo and developed a motorized bicycle as one entity, the ancestor of all Ducati motorcycles. This archaic Ducati cucciolo was the base on which all of the following models and designs were created, paving the way for the family's enormous success.

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