It's synonymous to Alfa Romeo's racing team.


 

The Quadrifoglio is the Italian name for a four-leaf clover and further proof that almost any Italian word sounds like a fast, exclusive sports car one can't afford. It has been used by Alfa since 1923. The first person to put a Quadrifolio shamrock on an Alfa was works race driver Ugo Sivocci.

Sivocci was a talented driver, but always seemed to come in second and never quite caught the breaks he needed to push him that little bit extra. His problem wasn't with his cars or his skill, it had more to do with getting the shaft from:

that eternal asshole, Chance!

And the only way to get on the good side of chance is with a little bit of luck. Which is where the clover comes in. Sivocci, knowing the long-established luck-granting properties of four-leaf clovers (among the highest of all the plants in the leguminous family Fabaceae), decided to paint a white square with a four-leaf clover on the grille of his car for the Targa Florio race.

That painted foliage paid off: Sivocci came in first, and that clover became Alfa's new racing team symbol because, hey, it works. And in a kid's-campout-ghost-story twist, the symbol proved its power in a macabre way a few months later when Sivocci was killed practicing for the Italian GP at Monza in an Alfa P1. Due to time constraints, Sivocci didn't get to paint the clover on the car, and the tragedy cemented Alfa's superstitious commitment to the clover.