Cagiva is born in 1950 from some Giovanni Castiglioni’s intuitions, as a firm that worked in the field of metal small parts. The firm is born and has its plants in Varese; the name of the society includes the initials of the founder and the initials of the town where the factory is placed.
In 1978 Cagiva enters the motorcycling world: the team includes two red and silver motorcycles ridden by Gianfranco Bonara and Marco Luchinelli. The hobby of a family of skilled businessmen soon becomes the most enterprising reality of the European motorcycle industry. On October 17th of the same year Cagiva obtains from the Harley Davidson Italy the plant of Schiaranna. In this area of 8.000 m3 there is a concentrate of skilled technicians, and the Castiglione brothers trigger off the modernization of the productive cycles through investments in technology and machinery. It employed people are already 150 and the yearly production is of about 40.000 motorcycles with a catalog of 8 models sold with the trademark HD Cagiva. In 1980 the trademark becomes simply Cagiva and the success on the market is fast, all this is the result of deliberate and resolutely carried out business policies. At the beginning of the Eighties Cagiva is the only Italian firm to be able to contrast the flooding of the Japanese firms.
In 1993 Cagiva enters the world of medium to high-powered motorcycles after an agreement to supply the Ducati with engines from 350c3 to 1000 c3. In 1995 the ascent of the Cagiva goes on with the purchase of some suffering or not yet developed trademarks: Ducati, Husqvarna, and Moto Morini. In 1996 the Cagiva Commerciale S.p.a is founded: it is authorized to sell all the trademarks in possession of Cagiva. Through this society the firm sells in 50 countries all over the world.
In 1987 in San Marino the Cagiva Research Institute is founded and in 1990 in Morrazone (VA) the new plant for the productions of steel and aluminum chassis is inaugurated.
In 1991 the Castiglione brothers buy the famous trademark Mv Augusta from the heirs of the family with the same name. In 1996 for strategic reasons the trademarks Ducati and Moto Morini are put out off the market. In 1997 at the Exhibition of Milan the F4 Serie Oro (Golden Series) is presented: this motorcycle represents the return on the market of the Mv Augusta symbol. The success is unprecedented. In 1999 commercial resolutions lead to a new and final arrangement of the society: the Mv Augusta Motors S.p.a. society is born, and it includes the Cagiva Motor, Husqvarna Motorcycles and Mv Augusta S.p.a.
