Astoria existed both pre-war and post-war.
There was also an Astoria made in Germany 1923-25 - see Disambiguation
A Brief History of the Italian Marque
Astoria was founded by Virginio Fieschi, a well-known rider who in the twenties raced Ardea, Borgo, Fongri, Douglas, Motosacoche, BSA, Sunbeam, Miller, Garelli, Moto Guzzi, and Rudge motorcycles.
Fieschi built his first motorcycle in 1925 on which he competed and won races in Galliate and Milan.
Production of the Milanese brand, based at via Coni Zugna, developed in two distinct time periods, initially from 1934 to 1936 when motorcycles were built using AJS engines with Burman boxes and sold in Italy under the Ajax brand in displacements of 250cc and 500cc. Alfredo Bianchi was involved, and it is believed he was associated with Arturo Rognoni in this venture.
With the arrival of the autarkic laws (import restrictions) Virginio Fieschi, owner of Astoria, in 1935 built his own 500cc engine, the first to adopt coil valve springs, offering machines in Turismo and Sport versions.
A year later the company ceased production, but reappeared in 1947 1 in Via Pellegrino Rossi in Milan, with Fieschi still at the helm.
The first post-war motorcycles were 500cc singles, joined in 1950 by a 125cc Villiers-powered machine. Subsequently light motorcycles of 125, 150, 160, 175 and 200 cc were produced with engines manufactured in-house and designed by Alfredo Bianchi. These engines were also sold to various manufacturers including Aldbert, Baroni, Frisoni, Nettunia, and Taurus.
Most of the engines were two-strokes, an interesting exception being a SOHC 175 produced in two versions. There are reports of other four-strokes; a 175cc OHV in 1954, a 169cc in both ohv and ohc versions in 1955, and a new 175cc fourstroke in 1957.
They also built a small motocarro (three-wheeler) of 50 cc.
Production ended in 1957.
Sources: Moto di Lombardia, Giorgio Pozzi, et al.
Notes
1. Another source says post-war production resumed in 1950 and ended in 1958.
(Thanks to Giorgio Pozzi, owner of an Astoria 160cc two-stroke, for some of the information above )
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