Cisitalia (pronounced chee-see-TAH-lee-uh) is likely one of the most influential automobile manufacturers that most people have never heard of. Founded by wealthy Italian industrialist Piero Dusio, the name was a partial acronym that stood for Consorzio Industriale Sportiva Italia. It was one of dozens of small Italian firms established after World War II that built small specialty sports cars using inexpensive, widely available Fiat components. Yet, while much of the Cisitalia’s mechanical specifications were shared with the products from other boutique Italian manufacturers like SIATA, Bandini, and Abarth, it was the unmistakable beauty of the coachwork that would set it apart from everything that had come before and secure its place in automotive history.

The first Cisitalia, the type D46, was a successful single-seat racing car produced in small numbers.  The firm’s first road going model was the type 202, a Pinin Farina-designed grand-touring fastback with a modified 1100cc Fiat engine.  Considered revolutionary because of its taut lines and low hood, a Pinin Farina-bodied Cisitalia 202 was featured in the 1951 New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) show entitled 8 Automobiles, an exhibition that examined different approaches to automobile body design.  In 1972 Pininfarina (a one word name beginning in 1961) donated a Cisitalia 202 to MoMA's permanent collection where it serves as a highly regarded example of machine art.