When you visit the Ducati factory in Borgo Panigale, you’ll likely notice an empty, windowless brick building adjacent to the entry gate. It stretches the length of the street, and is often draped in marketing material – highlighting the most recent success of the Ducati Corse team, or the latest motorcycle being manufactured within the factory walls.
That building isn’t just a big billboard; it’s the only building that survived an Allied bombing during World War II.
Adriano Ducati, along with his two brothers, Bruno and Marcello, founded Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati on July 4, 1926. The Ducati name, however, was first made famous in 1924 when Adriano invented a short-wave radio that established the first radio contact between Italy and the United States. By the 1930s, the company employed more than 10,000 people and was the second-largest company in Italy at the time, manufacturing not only radios, but cameras, electric razors, refrigerators, intercoms and even calculators.
