Very good question Juvela, and I do not recall that the 'what, where and when' of the Legnano head badge has been asked of me before.

Emilio Bozzi SpA was founded on or about 1908, making it one of the oldest bicycle manufacturers in Italy. The Bozzi brands included Frejus, Wolsit, Perla and of course Legnano. It was during the mid-20's that Bozzi adopted the statuesque figure of the Lombard warrior Alberto da Guissano to symbolize the Legnano brand. An interesting aside, Legnano is the only city besides Rome that is referenced in the Italian national anthem. Here is a picture from 1956 of the statue of Alberto da Guissano that stands in the center of Legnano (now a suburb of Milan) that was the inspiration for the Bozzi head badge.



The Legnano marque of Alberto Da Guissano was probably first used as a waterslide decal on seat tubes, down tubes, fenders and of course head tubes. There was also an enamelled style flat plate of the Legnano marque that was used for the head badge as well over several decades. And of course there is the beautiful, stamped brass version of the head badge that people are the most familiar with. Below is a photo of a 1946 Legnano Roma (pre Roma Olimpiade) that is in my collection.




I do not know exactly when the brass version of the head badge was first used however I have seen examples dating into the 1930's. To your specific question, the production format of the head badge was not so much an evolution of time but rather determined by the 'model of the Legnano bicycle that received a decal vs an enamelled plate vs the three-dimensional brass stampling.

It would take quite a bit of time and space to document how the various models were assigned, although I would be happy to answer specific questions based on my records and Legnano catalogs. Having said that, here is a brief overview on the headbadges.

Brass Head Badge
The brass head badge was reserved for the better or more expensive of the Legnano models, both city bikes and road bikes from the late 30's to the end of the 60's or very early 70's at the outside. These models included the Roma, Roma Olimpiade, Gran Premio, Model 44 Sportivo, Model 50 Sportivo, Model 45 Sportivo Senora, to name a few. The Sportivo models are city bikes. Of special note, the brass head badge was usually replaced with a waterslide decal on Roma and Roma Olimpiade models for the Legnano Team including the bikes of Binda, Bartali, Coppi and Baldini.



Decal Head Badge
A traditional waterslide decal of the pointed oval Legnano logo was used on all Legnano rode bikes and city bikes starting in the late 60's and at the same time that Legnano discontinued using the brass head badge. This was also about the time that many road bikes were dispensing with chromed lugs and fork/stay ends (production costs/fashion/weight saving?). As previously mentioned, the decal head badge was also used in the very early years leading up to the late 30's.



Enamelled Flat Head Badge
This style of head badge was used on the lesser model road and city bikes through to the late 1960's. The enamelled badges had some different shapes over the years. The badge below from the 60's deviated from the traditional double pointed oval. There may have been some cost savings to production in using the enamelled badge, however Legnano probably wanted to reserve the brass head badge as a way of 'distinguishing' their more expensive models at the top of the range. One of the Legnano catalogs in my archive from the 60's displays more than 30 different Legnano models in all and the Legnano factory at that time looks to have covered several hundred thousand square feet in size.




I was doing my best to make this reply short however it seems to have become a bit lengthy even to cover the basic history of the Legnano head badge. I hope this is of help to everyone in there restoration efforts or perhaps in sorting through the 'originals' that are sometimes not quite so original.


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