Nnesseth

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone knew the story behind the Bianchi Celeste color. I've ridden a Bianchi Brava for the past 4 years and i've heard numerous stories/fables/myths about the color being the shade of the milan sky, the former queen's eye color and thus the color of the bike that Edoardo Bianchi made for her, and a few others that i'm willing to let slide as false..

I recently was questioned about the color and didn't have a very adequate response, so if anyone has any leads i'd be happy to follow em!

Thanks,
Nick

rhm

I heard it was the queen's eye color. Now I should note that color is not my forte, unless it's blue. Most things are blue, by the way. Green, not so much. Still, the thought of a woman with that color --celeste green, that is-- eyes... okay, that kind creeps me out. Celeste is an opaque pastel color, not a bad color for a bike, but a terrible color for eyes. But what do I know about color, unless it's blue.

Nnesseth

I've also heard that it was a mixture of surplus military paint, so who knows. Too many different stories for me to just pick one and proclaim it as the truth. I think i'll send Bianchi a letter and see what they have to say =]

Bianchigirll 

well now this sounds like something I should know. I am sure I read it in the great Bianchi bible years ago. it certainly dates back to the days of the great motorcycle racing champions and the "Freccia Celeste" racing team, (which oddly translates as "blue arrow")

I don't have my book with me but I'll look through my catalogs and see if they mention it.

roccobike

Of the stories posted here, this is the one that's closest to what I heard/read. Bianchi was low on cash and came up with the color from a mixture of all the paint available. It became popular and so it continues. I also heard that "Celeste" was his daughter's name hence the name of the color. Of course, this is just another set of stories.

Nnesseth

That would be awesome! I'll have to check the library and see if they have a spare copy i can thumb through!

Let me know if anything should come up XD

EjustE

Here is the story... and it is not celeste green it is celeste (blue):

It is supposed to represent the color of the sky (thus celeste) on a nice open sky late afternoon/early evening. Nothing more, nothing less. More poetry and fiction than reality, but...

CV-6 

Not to be difficult, but what evidence is there to support this?

I will say the color is similar to RAF Duck Egg Blue aka Sky Blue, which was used as an underside color during War Deuce. So there may be something to what you write.

Nnesseth

An excellent point, just within the span of fifteen minutes inside of ONE thread we have come up with six different tales as to the origin of the color. When you have so many different perspectives and opinions you have to fall back on sources and solid evidence. I sent a letter to Bianchi, not sure how good they are at responding to questions of this nature (we'll find out ), but i am obviously not the first person to ask about the truth behind celeste and i would be surprised if a concrete answer has not already been given by a credible source.

Just..need..to find it.. *clenches fist* ><

gridplan

That's my take on it, too. Celeste is sky blue like the Bianchi jerseys of old. [Clicky]

Nnesseth

This doesn't provide any conclusive evidence, but offers some more theories.

https://cycling-review.com/more-reviews/bianchi/

Sixty Fiver

And after Coppi rode a Celeste Bianchi to victory it became one of the most desireable bike colours ever.

gerv 

I'm glad someone thinks that colour is blue. I was beginning to worry.

Nnesseth

I understand it's supposed to be 'blue', but it's arguably more green than it is the former..

RobbieTunes

I thought they called it celeste green because the French called it blue, and they just wanted to tick off the French.

Being Italian and all...

Nnesseth

It's the only logical explanation we've seen yet!

gridplan

I always liked this one: Their color varied over time because their mixing stick wore down. From the CR list: [Clicky]

KonAaron Snake 

I'd always read that it was inspired by the pea spitting scene from The Exorcist.

roccobike

While this is probably not true it makes more sense than the one about the "color of the sky in Milan". Heck if it's that off color, they must have had one heckuva air pollution problem.

Besides, we all know the sky is Carolina Blue.

gridplan

Their bikes' colors varied over the years. They weren't always the shade of green people now associate with Bianchi. As Brian Baylis described it, early Bianchis were sky blue (celeste). But as the clear coat yellowed over time, it left the surface with a greenish tint.

rhm

Okay, that's the most convincing answer so far. But my wife's Bianchi came with a little "history of the company" pamphlet that gave the queen's eyes version, so I'm going to try to find it one of these days.

For now... here's a little something: according to this website, "As our factory guide (Product Manager) Lars Svalin told, the color was originally derived from the eye color of Queen Margherita of Savoy whom Mr. Bianchi once delivered a bike to."

gridplan

I don't know, maybe her eyes were light blue. I like Baylis's theory. If I look at older Bianchi jerseys, I see they weren't greenish at all. They were baby blue (celeste in Italian) and white.

JunkYardBike

Maybe the queen was jaundiced.

vjp

I don't think that they were clear coating their bikes or motorcycles in the 50's/60's so I am not really buying the "yellowed clear coat" possibility although I have seen 1980's Bianchi that have yellowed slightly.

There are a lot of stories about the color and I feel that it adds to the lore in a good way!

I still remember the first Celeste Bianchi I saw, it was about 1974 in the window of a bike shop in Lynden Washington. It had Campagnolo bits and tubular tires and it was so expensive at almost $200, but I LOVED the color and have been a fan ever since.

Not everyone is a fan though... I have a 1980 Bianchi Super Leggera that the original owner stripped the paint off of ( the bike was NEW!!! ) and sprayed bombed it metallic blue because the Celeste was "extremely happy" ( although, there is nothing wrong with that! ). I am restoring it to it's original glory.

vjp

cinco

A guy at my bike shop has this theory that the color came about back during the black-and-white days and Bianchi didn't know what color they were ordering. When color was invented sometime in the '60s that was just the color it turned out to be. Sounds reasonable to me.