1926 – Ducati was born in Bologna in 1926 and was called “Scientific Society Radio and License Ducati”; it was specialized in the production of components for radio appliances, created and licensed by Adriano Cavalieri Ducati, who together with Bruno and Marcello gave birth to the company.
It was successful all over the world thanks to the high quality of its products and in 1935 the historical plant of Borgo Panigale started to be built, it was entirely destroyed during the Second World War.
1946 – At the end of the war, with great tenacity and determination, the factory started up again, and widened the range of its products; in fact, it started the production of a small internal-combustion engine, to be applied to bikes.
This innovative auxiliary engine, named “Cucciolo”(Puppy), was presented at the exhibition in Milan, and was sold with a mounting box; it was an immediate commercial success.
After a while it was coupled to a frame realized by Caproni in Trento and improvement-by-improvement, it had a long life span (six different versions from 1946 to 1958) and it turned into a modern motorbike. It was appreciated by a large number of bikers.

1948 – The troublesome years following the War brought about a destabilising effect on the company structure, as a matter of fact everyone gave up the enterprise and followed a separate path alone.
In 1948, Ducati became a state holding part of the rich IRI’s estate, which was already managing a large share of the Italian industrial and financial system.
Adriano Cavalieri Ducati moved to California, at NASA, where he joined Werner Von Braun on the Apollo project, the space programme that brought the man on the moon in 1969.
The brothers Marcello and Bruno remained in Italy and opened new companies operating in other sectors than the original one.
1950 – Ducati brand is an historical brand and is deeply linked to competitions. Even today its most apreciated feature is its speed on road and on track, but its remarkable passion for races led the Ducati to competing at first also into the Endurance racing, and then into the real off-road races.
Its competing vocation was clear already with its first creature.
In 1950, Ugo Tamarozzi and Glauco Zitelli, riding a Ducati 50 cc bike, conquered the world speediness record on track.