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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: kballowe on December 16, 2024, 07:25:51 AM
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I ran across this little story about that 6-legged creature on the AGIP/ENI bottles.
https://www.romethesecondtime.com/2014/07/the-6-legged-dog-story-of-enis-famous.html (https://www.romethesecondtime.com/2014/07/the-6-legged-dog-story-of-enis-famous.html)
Here's another description
https://espharel.blogspot.com/2020/10/modern-bestiary-agipen-six-legged.html (https://espharel.blogspot.com/2020/10/modern-bestiary-agipen-six-legged.html)
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(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52755460473_1d7e6669cb_z.jpg)
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It’s the logo of the oil company on the gas stations in Italy,it is the she wolf that raised Romulus and Remus the founders of Rome.I wondered about that myself as there is a decal on my old Stelvio,then we were filling up yhe bikes with it in Sicily.
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It's not a she-wolf since those have four legs and don't breathe fire. Instead, it is a dog/monster design created by a sculptor to win a logo competition for the new ENI corporation in the early 1950s. ENI was the parent of AGIP. The first link given by kballowe has the right story, which can also be found on ENI's website.
ENI successfully challenged the domination of the Seven Sisters oil cartel in the 1950s, still a matter of pride for Italians. Gianni Georgi, leader of the Moto Guzzi Experience Sicily tour that Tkelly and I recently took, gave me a brief history of this as the two of us examined the logo on the face of the Targa Florio start/finish building. Here he is in front of it, looking proud:
(https://i.ibb.co/zNPs1Gv/IMG-1488.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zNPs1Gv)
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Recent research (this afternoon) makes me think the ENI dog monster is likely a modified Roman she wolf, after all. I considered these exhibits:
A. She wolf on a third century BC Roman coin.
(https://i.ibb.co/mD70PtJ/IMG-1708.jpg) (https://ibb.co/mD70PtJ)
B. She wolf on a medieval Basque (Artolaguirre Family) coat of arms.
(https://i.ibb.co/Gks3xk6/IMG-1709.png) (https://ibb.co/Gks3xk6)
C. The ENI wolf (as I now call it):
(https://i.ibb.co/Qk5y9Q3/IMG-1706.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Qk5y9Q3)
The Basque image is a female wolf, but it turns its head up, back and away from the viewer in a threatening gesture, unlike the ancient Roman wolf that is turning its down and back toward the viewer and toward Romulus and Remus to care for them. It is a defiant version of the nurturing Roman she wolf.
I now think the ENI wolf is another defiant Roman she wolf. The artist chose the she wolf for its nationalist resonance among Italians, which has persisted since antiquity. The defiance is toward the Seven Sisters oil cartel as ENI begins to extract petroleum from its
Cortemaggiore field in Italy's Po Valley (from about 1951). I suggest the flame from its mouth alludes to a gas flare from an oil rig, which at the time was a symbol of rising Italian industrial strength and pride.
The extra legs on the wolf are artistic license. It is barely possible they were inspired by the tree roots beneath the Basque wolf, or maybe they suggest energy.
Sadly there seems to be little hope of learning the artist's intent. He was a renowned sculptor who concealed his authorship, perhaps because he did not want his name associated with commercial art. The winner was announced to be one Giuseppe Guzzi, an unknown commercial artist who was said to have moved to Argentina to enjoy his ten million lira prize and was never seen again. [Guzzi content.] The real artist's son later produced documents proving his father's authorship.
A very good source for ENI's history is their archive, which has a page dedicated to dog/monster or wolf at archiviostorico.eni .com
/aseni/en/pills/IT-ENI-CMS0001-000038
Its author(s) don't conclude it is a wolf, however.
The transformation of the Po Valley from a poor rural region to intense industrialism can be seen by comparing two Michelangelo Antonioni movies shot in 1943 and about 1964, respectively. These are Gente del Po, a documentary, and Red Desert, a feature film. Contrary to a common interpretation that the latter film bemoans industrial development, Antononioni explained that he really intended to portray the beauty of factories and their environments. His sentiment is evidence of the positive attitude towards Italian oil development that the defiant, gas-flare-spouting ENI wolf seems to represent. (I believe Antonioni grew up in the Po Valley.)
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Quote from: moto on December 17, 2024, 06:52:44 PM (https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=122284.msg1893571#msg1893571)It's not a she-wolf since those have four legs and don't breathe fire. Instead, it is a dog/monster design created by a sculptor to win a logo competition for the new ENI corporation in the early 1950s. ENI was the parent of AGIP.
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Indeed, back in the late 70's we lived in Italy as my Dad worked for a company which was part of the ENI group.
He brought us kids home some bomber jackets and key rings with the wolf logo on them, probably still got a key ring somewhere.