A-Z of marques: No.2 Alfa Romeo

The marque: Alfa Romeo is among Italy's most evocative marque names, now with the cars to match

The history: Here's a story of near-death and reinvention uncannily like that of the British Rover Group, except that Milan is more glamorous than the West Midlands. That Alfa Romeo survives shows the staying power of a strong brand, and the loyalty of car-nuts who want it to succeed even when all evidence points to disaster.

It began in 1910 as the Anonima Lombarda Fabricca Automobili, or ALFA. The idea had been to build French Darracq cars under licence, but the loyal Italians didn't take to them and the project foundered. So ALFA designed its own cars, which was fine until the production demands of the First World War drained its funds and triggered the first rescue, by one Nicola Romeo.

Now Alfa Romeos became fast sports cars and regular race-winners, often with exquisite, straight-eight engines. But Mussolini appeared and in 1933 Alfa fell under the state control of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI). But the engines stayed delightfully racy and after the Second World War the little twin-cam engine became the heart of most Alfas right up to the mid-1990s, always punchy with a crisp exhaust note.

Such an engine powered saloons, coupés, sports cars, even the Alfa delivery vans we never saw in the UK. Alfa Romeo entered Le Mans, Formula One and all kinds of high-profile racing, mainly because it was good for Italy. But, not surprisingly, politics had to intervene and they did so with the Alfasud.

This clever car, a pleasure to drive with its flat-four engine and Alfa's first front-wheel drive configuration, was designed by a past colleague of Ferdinand Porsche, Rudolf Hruska, and built from distressingly rust-prone recycled steel. All kinds of things went wrong with car and factory, but still we loved the Alfasud.

In 1986, Fiat bought Alfa after Ford had been frozen out. A few years later the cars were showing strong Fiat influence, but the patience of the Alfisti was wearing thin. Every new car was promised to save Alfa Romeo, but none was up to the job except, in executive-car circles, the Alfa 164. Finally, in 1997, Alfa Romeo cracked it with the beautiful, spirit-filled and reasonably well-made 156, a car which disguises its few Fiat-shared parts very well.

It's the intelligent car-lover's BMW alternative, and the smaller and newer 147 continues the renaissance. The Fiat Auto group is not in good financial shape now, but in Alfa Romeo lies its best chance of salvation.

Defining model: Duetto sports car, as driven by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.

They say: Cuore Sportivo (sporting heart).

We say: You certainly wouldn't buy one with your head.