Anyone who knew Gianni Rogliatti, and had the honour to be his friend, will remember him not only for his great professionalism, but also for his sense of humour and irony, and his ability to not take himself too seriously – which made him truly unique. Born in Turin on January 6, 1929, at the age of just 19 he emigrated with his family to Argentina, where he graduated in engineering with a major in geophysics. This solid technical background formed the foundation of his extraordinary competence: and his career as a motoring journalist – a professional in which he soon made a name for himself – benefitted greatly from an extraordinary technical knowledge of the automobile. He had his first experience as a journalist while still a student, writing for the magazine “Velocidad”, and from 1951 on, he worked as a correspondent for the Gazzetta dello Sport, the Associated Press of Buenos Ayres and Time Life. During a trip to Europe in 1960 to visit the most important European and Italian automobile factories, he decided to move back to Turin and dedicate himself wholly to a profession which, at first, seemed merely a means to indulge his passion for cars. In just a few short years, he established himself as one of the greatest names in automotive journalism, working not only as a columnist, but also as an editor, special correspondent and even as director for many publications: among which L’Automobile, Parabrisas, Autocar, Automobile Quarterly, Gazzetta del Popolo, La Stampa, La Manovella, Quattroruote, Motor Trend and Année Automobile.
He became one of the leading experts on Ferrari history, writing many books about the marque that still serve as trusty, irreplaceable reference material to this day. Experts would come to him to certify the authenticity of historic cars, and his personal archive is one of the most extensively stocked and comprehensive in the world concerning not only the Prancing Horse, but the entire history of the automobile. Right up until the end, he still directed the magazine “Ferrari Story”, which he founded in 1984 (as well as Motor Italia, of which he was also editor).
Gianni Rogliatti met Enzo Ferrari in person in 1960, marking the start of a friendship based on a profound, mutual professional esteem. From 1989 to 1993, and then once again in 2006, Rogliatti was in charge of the official Ferrari yearbook, and he also created numerous technical and historical works for the Maranello-based marque, culminating in the monumental complete history published to mark Ferrari’s sixtieth anniversary in 2007. Rogliatti wrote a total of 15 books dedicated to the Maranello based marque (not including the two histories of Ferrari accompanying a series of collectable stickers by Panini, and two histories published by Bolaffi for the “con le Rosse nel mondo” postal stamp collection).
For decades he covered sports events – and Formula 1 races in particular – for the daily newspapers Stampa Sera and La Stampa, while later he would also test drive cars and write detailed technical descriptions of cars. He was a pioneer of the electrical automobile. Back in 1973, he personally designed and built a battery powered city car, the LEM, clad in bodywork by Michelotti, while in 1981, he applied the same technology to convert a Panda to electric drive.
An avid photographer and an enthusiast of the legendary Leica camera brand – which he also collected – he published many books on the history and technological evolution of the German company.
He passed away in Turin in 2012, having never lost any of his extraordinary enthusiasm and passion, and the ability to transform these into the written word to create profound, complete, detailed and precise articles and books.
