He died a national hero (many roads in Italy are named after him) in 1918 at the age of 30, after having shot down 34 enemy aircraft.
And Francesco Baracca had a prancing horse (almost exactly like the horse in the Ferrari logo) painted on the side of his planes.
There are various theories on why he had that horse on his planes:
Some suggest it was because he had once been an excellent cavalryman (soldier on horseback).
Others say he had horses on his planes because he had grown up with many horses in his family (there are a couple of other theories as well).
Enzo Ferrari, who founded Ferrari in 1939, was a racing driver with the car manufacturer Alfa Romeo in 1923 when he won a car race in Ravenna, Italy.
Because of this victory, he got the opportunity to meet the parents of Francesco Baracca.
And it was at this meeting that Paulina Baracca, Francesco’s mother, asked Enzo Ferrari to use her son’s horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck.
It was eleven years later (in 1932), however, that Alfa Romeo allowed Enzo Ferrari to use the horse on his racing car (he won that race, as well).
He added a yellow background because it was the symbolic colour of his birthplace, Modena.
Today, Ferrari’s prancing horse usually has the letters S F around its legs; SF stands for Scuderia Ferrari.
Scuderia is Italian for a ‘place reserved for racing horses’ and is commonly used by Italian motor racing teams.
