The factory was severely damaged by Allied bombing in 1944, and occupying German troops commandeered part of what remained. Nevertheless, Trevisan's design team worked through the destruction to develop a different kind of Alfa Romeo for the changed Europe that lay ahead. A new succesful start Car production was initially slow to restart at Portello. While the future of the auto industry in a devastated Italy was still unsure, Alfa Romeo produced a variety of products, including stoves and aluminum window frames, to keep its workforce and facilities productively engaged. Like those of other manufacturers, Alfa’s first post-war cars were cosmetically updated models from the late 1930s. The first cars produced after the war were 6C 2500s that appeared in 1946. Interestingly, the years immediately after the war marked Alfa Romeo’s last but very successful forays into Grand Prix racing. Alfa won world championships in 1950 with the tipo 158 "Alfetta," (means little Alfa in Italian) a upgraded prewar racing car, and in 1951 with its modernized and more powerfull successor, the 159, driven by Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio, respectively.

Alfetta 158 World Champion's F1 1950 and 1951

The 1950s and growing sales figures In 1950 a completely new passenger car, the Alfa Romeo 1900, the family car that wins races, was introduced. This was Orazio Satta’s first production model and the first monocoque Alfa Romeo. It was smaller than past Alfas (although not small by post-war European standards), and retained many elements of the classic Alfa architecture while incorporating modern innovations in design and production technique. In 1954, a new model that departed even farther from the company's elite past was introduced: the Giulietta.

Giulietta Sprint

With encouragement from the IRI, this was to be a smaller and more affordable Alfa for middle class buyers. It featured a 1.3 L version of the now-familiar all aluminum, dual overhead cam, inline 4 engine in a monocoque chassis with a rear live axle. To stimulate interest in the car, the first of the Bertone built Giulietta Sprint, was given away in a public lottery. The coupé was followed by a 1300 Berlina look-alike sedan and the lovely Pininfarina built Spider. New factory’s The introduction of the Giulietta brings us essentially to the beginning of the modern era in Alfa Romeo’s history. Starting with two new factories that were built after the introduction of the Giulietta. The first was a large complex opened in Arese, north of Milan, in the early 1960s. This plant replaced the company's antiquated works at the Portello with a modern design and production facility. The Giulia Sprint GT was the first Alfa Romeo to be built entirely in the Arese plant. The Giulia Super and it’s derivates Alfa’s new sedan, the Giulia TI of 1962, was ‘designed by the wind’. Windtunnel tests were now fully integrated in the design of a car. Under the ‘streamlined’ bonnet was a 4 in line of 1.6L. In 1965 Alfa introduced the TI Super which was marketed with the phrase ‘the 185+ km/h Giulia’. It’s more common successor was called simply Giulia Super but still capable to do 175+.

Alfa GIULIA 1962-1977

Another Giulia was the Pininfarina built Spider Duetto which became very popular after Dustin Hoffman almost crashed the car in ‘The Graduate.’ Alfa’s new convertible should be called Giulia Spider but this name was already given to the 1.6L version of the Giulietta Spider. The winner of a public lottery came up with ‘Duetto’ and so it was. Although this name was not used for long the Spider itself was in production for more than 25 years! The coupé version of the Giulia was called Sprint GT. It came from the drawing boards of Bertone. The Bertone GTV, with 2.0L engine, became one of the most popular GT’s ever built. In every conversation about classic cars a Bertone GT(V) will be mentioned. It’s race version, the GTA, has won every possible event throughout the world. Racing drivers used the car not only for short sprints like hill climbs but they also used the GTA succesfully in endurance races.

La GTA 1300 Junior

Thanks to cars like this, Alfa Romeo became one of the most desired makes in those days.Pomigliano d’Arco The second new factory, built in the early 1970s, was the result of an ambitious, government-inspired venture to produce a smaller cheaper Alfa Romeo. Another goal that the governement had in mind was to create more employment in the south of Italy, a social plan that was called ’Il Mezzogiorno’. In fact the highly industrialized North was the rich part of Italy and the South was the poor part. To achieve this, a new plant was built in Pomogliano d’Arco, near Naples.

Alfasud

Rudolf Hruska, an Austrian who had worked with Porsche on the Volkswagen before the war, and later with Alfa Romeo on the Giulietta, as well as with Ford and Fiat, was given responsibility for the design of the new car. Hruska’s small team developed an innovative, boxer-engined, space- efficient front-wheel drive car that went into production in 1972. The car was named the Alfasud, or Alfa-south, after the region of the country. Despite the impressive technical achievements represented by the design of the Alfasud, the venture was not commercially successful. The factory experienced several quality problems and labor disputes in its early years and has never produced at full capacity.