Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, the Italian basketball club founded in 1936, introduced its first official club logo in 2016. The mark, which remains the club’s institutional emblem, is a white basketball on a red field containing a stylized Duomo of Milan, with the founding year 1936 at its center and the words “Olimpia Milano” curved along the border.[1][2]
Design and History
Before 2016, Olimpia Milano had never possessed an official club crest. From the Borletti era through sponsorships by Cinzano, Simmenthal, Billy, Simac, Tracer, Philips and Stefanel, the sponsor’s brand typically distinguished the club.[3] The first true logo, a simple wordmark reading “Olimpia Milano 1936,” was created under the Armani presidency.[3]
For decades, fans associated the club with “Fiero il Guerriero,” a dribbling soldier symbol introduced in 1985 during the Simac era. Fiero was never an official logo, and it disappeared from the scene in 2009, later returning as a mascot.[1][4]
The current logo was unveiled in August 2016 for the 2016/17 season. It reproduced a symbol first presented earlier that year to celebrate the club’s 80th anniversary.[1] The announcement drew immediate criticism from supporters on social media, many of whom objected to the removal of Fiero and posted comments such as “Rivogliamo Fiero il Guerriero” (“We want Fiero the Warrior back”).[1][3]
For the 2025/26 season, marking the club’s 90th anniversary, Olimpia Milano’s digital fanbase voted among three proposed designs to select a special commemorative logo. The winning mark fuses the stylized Duomo symbol from the club’s institutional logo with the number 90, formed symmetrically by the downward projection of the Duomo’s elements. The dates 1936 and 2026 appear above the spires, and the words “Olimpia Milano” follow a circular orientation echoing the original logo.[5] This anniversary logo replaced the traditional mark on team jerseys for the season.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The club’s official description states that the logo, rendered in the historic white and red colors, reproduces a stylized Duomo of Milan to confirm the indissoluble bond between the city and its historic basketball team.[2] The design agency Vacuum Studio, which lists the logo project in its portfolio, similarly describes the stylized Duomo within the lines of the basketball as representing the bond between the team and the city of Milan.[7]
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