Picchio was established in 1989 but built its first car, the SR2 (also designated A001 or MB1), in 1998. The SR2 used a 3-litre BMW straight-six engine and made its competition debut at the Misano round of the International Sports Racing Series in July 1998. The name Picchio means "woodpecker" in Italian.
In 2002, the company entered into a partnership with Armando Trentini and G&W Motorsports (later Synergy Racing) to field the Picchio D-USA in the SRPII category of the Rolex Sports Car Series. Darren Law finished second in the SRPII championship that year. The team also scored a victory at the Six Hours of Mont-Tremblant in Canada, shared by Darren Law, Andy Lally, and Armando Trentini. In 2003, Trentini and G&W Motorsports introduced the DP2, built for the Daytona Prototype class of the Grand-Am series. On its debut the DP2 finished 24th in the 24 Hours of Daytona; Darren Law was the most successful DP2 driver, finishing sixth in the Daytona Prototype championship. That same year Steve Marshall won the SRPII championship in a D-USA, and the result gave Picchio the SRPII constructor's title. A planned successor, the DP3, reached prototype testing with Andrea Montermini at the wheel but never raced competitively.
In 2004, Picchio introduced the CN2 Light, the first of what the company called its Light Series — a range of prototypes built specifically for hillclimbing rather than circuit racing. The CN2 Light was designed to be light, aerodynamically efficient, and accessible across multiple hillclimb categories.
In 2010, Picchio launched the P4/E2, its second dedicated hillclimb series, powered by a 1,750 cc turbocharged engine. Christian Merli was selected as the official P4/E2 works driver and demonstrated the car's competitiveness immediately, taking six wins from seven races in his first season with the machine. The P4/E2 competed in European hillclimb events and became associated with some of the most demanding climbs on the continent.
Also in 2010, Picchio entered a different field entirely with the Picchio DANY, an electric city car that had its origins in the Belumbury project of 2008, representing the company's first venture into road-legal vehicles. In 2011, designer Nicola Guida created a carbon-fibre bicycle under the Picchio name, further illustrating the small manufacturer's range across lightweight performance engineering beyond conventional motorsport.
Picchio occupies an unusual position in the motorsport landscape as a tiny manufacturer that has competed at the highest levels of both American sportscar racing and European hillclimbing, winning championships in both disciplines. The company's hillclimb machinery, particularly the Light Series prototypes, became competitive tools across European Championship events, and the P4/E2's success in the hands of Christian Merli helped cement Picchio's reputation in hillclimb competition. The combination of racing pedigree, lightweight construction philosophy, and willingness to experiment across categories — from Grand-Am prototypes to electric road cars — marks Picchio as one of the more distinctive small manufacturers in Italian motorsport history.