Ceirano & C., Welleyes, F.lli Ceirano, STAR Rapid, Matteo C. & C., Itala, Ceirano-Ansaldo, SPA, Junior, SCAT, S.A. Giovanni Ceirano. Eleven businesses that share two common denominators: they were all founded in Turin and all born thanks to the initiative of one or the other of the Ceirano brothers. It is not easy to plunge into the lives and hectic activities of these four brothers, nor to distinguish the specific contribution of each of them. They were born in a Piedmont family, more precisely from Cuneo.
Giovanni Battista Ceirano at the wheel of the Rapid
They are Giovanni Battista, born in 1860, Giovanni, born in 1865, Matteo, five years younger, and Ernesto, born another 5 years later. Later they were joined by Giovanni’s son, also baptized Giovanni, but called Ernesto for distinction. It is difficult to disentangle their history, regardless of their personalities, because one after the other they all dedicated themselves to the same profession: founding car companies. Founding them to then leave, or merge them with other companies, or dissolve or acquire them in a kaleidoscope of companies that very much livened up and enriched the industrial scene in Turin and Italy.
