The idea of the capital P that stretches horizontally over all the other letters of the name like a roof was born in New York, one day back in 1908. A sudden inspiration, the result of a request by the Pirelli representative in the United States, where the considerable development of commercial advertising meant that a brand that was not totally unknown, but still very young, had to stand out with a precise image and a strong identity. It was a done deal in America. And  in Europe, too, immediately afterwards.

Immediately after 1945, the graphic tradition of the Pirelli logo seemed quite varied and contradictory: some rules were needed. The decision was to focus on simplicity and linguistic unity, to highlight the effect of the P, making the amount of stretching permanent. The thickness scale of the other letters of the name was also established, so they remained unchanged from one font size to the next. The font to be used for the slogans, advertising copy and illustrative texts was Cairoli.

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