The Lazio logo is one of the most recognizable crests in Italian football. Built around a golden eagle perched on a shield of sky blue and white stripes, it ties back to the club’s roots in Rome, where it was founded in 1900. The club’s own crest history lists 17 versions, and yet the core idea has returned again and again. An eagle. A shield. The colors of sky blue and white.
SS Lazio sits in a unique spot within European football branding. Few clubs have changed their badge this often, sometimes keeping the eagle, sometimes dropping it for years at a stretch. That kind of visual history is rare. It speaks to a club whose image has been shaped by politics, sponsors, and fashion, even before “branding” was something anyone talked about in sports.
The current design dates from the Cragnotti presidency in 1992. The eagle had already returned to a classical, non-stylized form in 1987 after years of abstract versions, in a restyling by BasicNet of Turin through its Robe di Kappa division. Lazio plays in Serie A at the Stadio Olimpico, and fans know the team as the Biancocelesti and Le Aquile.
What Is the Lazio Logo?
The Lazio logo is a crest showing a golden eagle with spread wings above a shield with “S.S. Lazio” in italics and sky blue and white bands. The design dates from 1992 under president Sergio Cragnotti and returned in 2001 after the centenary crest. No designer has been publicly credited.
Lazio logo at a glance
| Symbol | Golden Roman imperial eagle above a three-band shield |
| Designer/agency | Not publicly credited for the current crest; BasicNet (Robe di Kappa) did the 1987 version |
| Current version since | 1992 design, back in use since 2001 after the centenary crest |
| Colors (hex) | Sky blue approx. #87D8F7, dark blue approx. #15366F, gold approx. #D7A819, white #FFFFFF (third-party estimates) |
| Typeface | Italic serif typeface, not officially named; no widely accepted free alternative |
| Previous major version | Eagle over a five-band shield (1987-1992); centenary crest (2000-2001) as a temporary version |
How Has the Lazio Logo Evolved Over Time?
The club’s history page lists 17 crest versions since 1900, and those are the dates used below. The chart above comes from a third party and dates some versions differently. A 2015 study by the Centro Studi Nove Gennaio Millenovecento adds another caveat: club letterheads show that different logos often overlapped.
The eagle arrived in 1905, vanished in 1920, came back in 1948, went abstract in 1979, and returned to its classic form in 1987.
Original Lazio Logo (1900-1905)
- Years Active: 1900-1905
- Design Description: A “Swiss” shield on a blue background, divided by a white oblique bar. No eagle yet
- Color Scheme: Blue and white
- Designer: Not credited
- Context: The club was founded as Società Podistica Lazio on January 9, 1900, in Piazza della Libertà, as a running society rather than a football club. The colors honor Greece, home of the ancient Olympics
First Eagle Logo (1905-1914)
- Years Active: 1905-1914
- Design Description: The Roman imperial eagle, wings folded, rests on a shield with seven vertical bands, four blue and three white. A blue ribbon in its beak reads “S. Podistica Lazio”
- Color Scheme: Blue and white
- Designer: Not credited
- Context: The earliest letter the Centro Studi could document with this mark dates from April 1911, under president Fortunato Ballerini
Art Nouveau Circle (1914-1920)
- Years Active: 1914-1920
- Design Description: The eagle spreads its wings for the first time, in front of a circular frieze and four fluted columns, with “Roma” on a banner below
- Color Scheme: Blue and white
- Key Changes from Previous: The composition became far more decorative, using the kind of ornamental design elements popular at the time
SPL Monogram (1920-1927)
- Years Active: 1920-1927
- Design Description: Interlaced white letters “SPL” in a circle on light blue. No eagle
- Color Scheme: White and light blue
- Context: After World War I the club moved to this stripped-back approach, and the name changed to Società Sportiva Lazio in 1926
Fascist-Era Badges (1927-1948)
- Years Active: 1927-1936 and 1936-1948
- Design Description: First a three-pointed shield with a Roman column and the fascio littorio. Then a vertical rectangle with the regime emblem and “S.S. Lazio” at the top, and seven white and blue stripes below
- Color Scheme: Blue and white
- Designer: Not credited. The club says the first was required by a National Fascist Party ordinance
- Key Changes from Previous: Regime symbols were added. The littorio was removed after 1942, leaving the club name in the upper section
- Cultural Significance: This is the most politically charged chapter in Lazio’s visual history
Return of the Eagle (1948-1979)
- Years Active: 1948-1963, 1963-1968, and 1968-1979
- Design Description: A winged eagle above a seven-band shield under “S.S. Lazio.” A 1963 rework made the eagle larger and more stylized. The 1968 version had a larger eagle again over three pairs of fluted bands
- Color Scheme: Blue, sky blue, and white
- Designer: Not credited
- Cultural Significance: The 1968 crest was worn during the first Scudetto in 1973-74, which gave this old logo huge emotional weight. The Centro Studi says the 1968 mark stayed on the general club’s letterhead until 2001
Modernist and Stylized Period (1979-1987)
- Years Active: 1979-1982, 1982-1983, 1983-1984, and 1984-1987
- Design Description: A flying stylized eagle with an “ss lazio” logotype, then the same eagle idea in a square crest, then a rhomboid crest, then a geometric version with a football at the top and no light blue
- Color Scheme: Primarily dark blue and white
- Designer: Technical sponsor Pouchain’s 1979 crest is credited to Piero Gratton. Otello Cecchi of Marksport in Florence created the 1982 version for president Gian Chiarion Casoni
- Key Changes from Previous: The biggest departure in Lazio’s visual history. The eagle went from realistic to abstract
- Cultural Significance: The stylized eagle stretched across the chest and sleeves of shirts in 1982-83 and 1986-87. Later revivals include a 2017-18 kit with the hexagonal crest and a 2024-25 125th anniversary kit with the 1979 crest
BasicNet Restyling (1987-1992)
- Years Active: 1987-1992
- Design Description: The traditional, non-stylized eagle returned over a shield with five vertical bands, three blue and two white, under “S.S. Lazio”
- Color Scheme: Blue, white, and gold-toned eagle
- Designer: BasicNet of Turin (Robe di Kappa division)
Current Lazio Logo (1992-Present)
- Years Active: 1992-2000, then 2001-present
- Design Description: A slightly stylized gold eagle with spread wings above a minimalist shield. Italic “S.S. Lazio” sits above three vertical bands, two sky blue and one white
- Color Scheme: Sky blue, white, dark blue, and gold
- Designer: Not publicly credited
- Context: A centenary crest, chosen in a competition among graphic studios, ran from January 9, 2000 to January 9, 2001, with an oblique “100” on a golden base and “1900-2000” in white. The club then went back to the Cragnotti-era design. The Centro Studi records small redraws in 2001 and 2015
- Cultural Significance: The design accompanied one of the club’s most successful periods, including the 1999-2000 Scudetto under Sven-Göran Eriksson
What Do the Design Elements of the Lazio Logo Mean?
The eagle is the most prominent element. The club calls it the Roman imperial eagle, and the link to the legions is the common explanation. Founder Luigi Bigiarelli is widely credited with choosing it.
The Centro Studi points out that no official document records why the eagle was chosen. Besides Rome, it lists two other plausible reasons: president Ballerini’s love of hiking, and a tribute to honorary president Paolo Boselli, born in Savona, whose symbol is an eagle.
The striped shield carries the club’s colors, and the “S.S. Lazio” text is the formal identifier, using an italicized format that gives the whole composition a classical feel.
What Are the Lazio Logo Colors?
Sky blue and white, which is what “colori Lazio” comes down to. They were chosen as a tribute to Greece, because of the link between the multi-sport club and the Olympic Games.
The club has not published official codes, so these are third-party estimates from TeamColorCodes, labeled by that site as estimates. The chart above differs by a few points:
- Sky Blue (approx. #87D8F7): The color behind the “Biancocelesti” nickname, literally white and sky blue. From a color psychology standpoint, light blue tends to feel calm
- White (#FFFFFF): Part of the club’s colors since the start
- Dark Blue (approx. #15366F): Used for outlines and text. It adds contrast against the lighter blue
- Gold (approx. #D7A819): The eagle color. It has come and gone over the logo’s history, and it is the standard color for the eagle in the current full-color crest
We don’t list Pantone, RGB, or CMYK values, because no club source supports them.
What Typography Style Is Used in the Lazio Logo?
The current badge sets “S.S. Lazio” in an italic serif typeface. The club hasn’t named it, and any bold italic serif will get you close.
Earlier versions used typographic elements ranging from a decorative Art Nouveau frieze to bold capitals. Shirt names and numbers are a separate matter, since kit fonts change with the season and the supplier.
The letter spacing fits neatly across the top of the shield.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Lazio Logo?
There’s no documented hidden message, but the shield has a story. The current version has three bands, two sky blue and one white. Older versions had five or seven.
The wings are raised and spread, breaking out beyond the shield, and that pose goes back to the 1914 crest, the first to show the eagle with spread wings.
There’s also the matter of criticism around the eagle’s association with Fascism. The eagle was on Lazio’s crest from 1905 according to the club, well before the National Fascist Party was founded in 1921, and the regime’s symbol on the crest was the fasces, not the bird.
How Does the Lazio Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
Among Serie A clubs, Lazio’s badge is one of the more traditional. It hasn’t gone through the kind of drastic modernization that, say, Juventus did with its 2017 rebrand to a simple “J” monogram.
The AS Roma emblem features the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus, drawing from the same Roman pool but with a completely different symbol. Both clubs root their identity in ancient Rome, which makes the Derby della Capitale one of the most symbolically loaded rivalries in football.
Napoli’s badge is far simpler, basically an “N” inside two rings. Fiorentina uses the Florentine lily. And AC Milan’s crest relies on the red cross of the city of Milan.
What makes the Lazio badge stand out is the eagle’s dominance. In most football crests, the symbol sits inside the shield. Lazio’s eagle sits on top, spreading its wings beyond the shield’s borders. That overflow breaks the framing in a way that gives the crest a sense of movement most other static badges lack.
What Cultural Impact Has the Lazio Logo Had?
The eagle of Lazio is everywhere among the club’s supporters, on flags, scarves, and banners at the Stadio Olimpico.
It’s also debated. The eagle’s visual similarity to imagery used by far-right groups has caused controversy over the years, and the Roman origin of the symbol is the usual response to it. The perception lingers in certain conversations, fair or not.
On the merchandise side, the crest has moved well beyond match shirts. The stylized eagle of the 1980s, especially the “maglia bandiera” shirt, was revived for home matches in 2018-19, and retro eagle designs keep coming back.
The badge’s storytelling quality is part of what gives it staying power. It isn’t just a mark. It carries Roman imagery, the Greek Olympic connection, and over a century of football.
How Does the Lazio Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The logo works as the anchor for everything visual about SS Lazio. The sky blue and white run through the kits, the stadium, the web presence, and fan merchandise.
The eagle connects to the team nickname, “Le Aquile” (The Eagles). For more than a decade, the eagle Olympia flew over the Stadio Olimpico before matches. Its last flight there came in January 2025, before the club dismissed falconer Juan Bernabé, and the club then said it was looking for a new eagle.
Mizuno, the kit supplier in recent seasons, places the crest alongside sponsors and league patches. That follows standard logo positioning for football kits, and the eagle’s spread wings make it visually wider than most club badges.
The crest does appear in other treatments, including a monochrome version in blue. The club’s brand system isn’t public, so we can’t say what rules it sets.
How Should the Lazio Logo Be Used?
This is generic advice, not club policy. Like most professional football club marks, the Lazio logo is a trademark, so commercial use generally needs a license from SS Lazio.
If you are reproducing the crest for editorial purposes:
- Keep the color palette intact and skip gradient effects
- Don’t stretch, compress, or rotate the badge
- Use vector files where you can for print applications
- Remember that low-DPI files and small pixel sizes lose the eagle’s feather detail fast, as bitmap formats do
FAQ on the Lazio Logo
What Does the Eagle on the Lazio Logo Represent?
The club describes it as the Roman imperial eagle, and the link to Rome’s legions is the usual explanation.
No official document records why it was chosen, though. Researchers also suggest hiking symbolism and a tribute to an honorary president.
When Was the Current Lazio Badge Introduced?
The design dates from 1992, under president Sergio Cragnotti. A centenary crest replaced it in 2000, and the club returned to it in 2001.
No designer has been publicly credited.
Who Designed the Lazio Logo?
The current crest has no publicly credited designer. BasicNet of Turin, through Robe di Kappa, did the 1987 version that brought back the classic eagle.
Piero Gratton is credited with the 1979 stylized eagle, and Otello Cecchi of Marksport with the 1982 one.
Why Are Lazio’s Colors Sky Blue and White?
The founders picked them as a tribute to Greece, because of the link between the club’s multi-sport roots and the Olympic Games.
The early crests were recorded in blue and white, and sky blue became the standard shirt color from 1912.
How Many Times Has the Lazio Emblem Been Redesigned?
The club’s own history lists 17 versions since 1900, counting the temporary centenary crest. Third-party charts count slightly differently.
Some changes were minor tweaks. Others, like the 1979 and 1982 stylized eagles, were complete departures.
Did Lazio Always Have an Eagle on the Crest?
No. By the club’s timeline, there was no eagle from 1900 to 1905, or from 1920 to 1948, when SPL lettering and then Fascist-era badges took over.
The stylized 1979-1987 badges replaced the classic bird with an abstract one.
What Are the Lazio Logo Color Codes?
The club doesn’t publish them. Third-party estimates are sky blue approx. #87D8F7, dark blue approx. #15366F, gold approx. #D7A819, and white #FFFFFF.
What Font Does the Lazio Crest Use?
The “S.S. Lazio” text is set in an italic serif typeface. The club hasn’t named it, and no exact font match has been confirmed.
How Does the Lazio Logo Compare to the AS Roma Badge?
Both clubs draw on ancient Rome, but with different symbols. Lazio uses the imperial eagle. Roma uses the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus.
That shared source material is part of what makes the Derby della Capitale so loaded with meaning.
Can I Download the Lazio Logo for Personal Use?
We found no official public download page from the club. A vector or PNG copy found online is not automatically cleared for use.
Personal, non-commercial use is often tolerated in practice, but selling anything with the Lazio badge on it generally needs a license.
Conclusion
The Lazio logo has survived wars, political upheaval, relegation, and 17 listed versions. And the eagle is still there. That kind of staying power says something about how deeply the symbol connects to the club’s identity and to Rome itself.
From Luigi Bigiarelli’s founding in Piazza della Libertà to the Cragnotti-era Scudetto, the Lazio club crest has tracked every chapter. The sky blue and white Biancocelesti colors, the golden eagle, the striped shield. It all means something.
Few Serie A team badges carry that much history in a single mark. Whether on a Mizuno kit at the Stadio Olimpico or a flag in the stands, the Lazio emblem does what the best football crests do. It tells you exactly who these people are.
Sources
- SS Lazio, Club history: stemma – https://sslazio.it/en/club/storia-del-club/stemma
- Centro Studi Nove Gennaio Millenovecento, I loghi della Società Sportiva Lazio – https://www.novegennaiomillenovecento.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/i-loghi-della-SSL-small.pdf
- Gli Eroi del Calcio, I gagliardetti della Lazio – https://www.glieroidelcalcio.com/?p=47660
- Goal, L’aquila Olympia torna a volare prima di una partita – https://www.goal.com/it/liste/l-aquila-olympia-torna-a-volare-prima-di-una-partita-dove-e-quando/blt3deb29bbeeb29557
- Wikipedia, SS Lazio – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Lazio
- TeamColorCodes, Lazio Colors – https://teamcolorcodes.com/lazio-colors/
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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