Concorso News

Another trip to Italy? You Bet!

May 4, 2023

This year’s journey was packed full of meetings, conferences, dinners, driving, and a little leisure.

The arrival

There is always something new on each trip, and this trip did not disappoint. We arrived at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport in the heart of Motor Valley, on a dark, cold, wet and blustery Sunday evening. We were whisked to Modena at one of our favorite hotels in the heart of the old town.
Sundays in Modena can be a little quiet, and Sunday evenings more so. A few degrees colder, the snow would be falling. Too early to sleep despite the time zone changes, we walked about the old section of Modena searching for an open restaurant. The streets were dark and quiet except for the occasional echoes of others wandering through the porticos. On this frigid evening few Modena residents were out, most probably having the good sense to stay indoors, warm and dry.

Finally, we found a bite to eat. Afterwards returned to the Hotel Canalgrande to prepare for the week ahead, and a needed good night’s sleep.

Day One – Meetings

Monday was more very cold rain. Our day started at De Taiadela, an enjoyable lunchspot in the shadow of the Lamborghini factory. There, we discussed the upcoming anniversary celebrations of Lamborghini’s 60^th anniversary. After lunch we met with Energica Motors to see their electric motorcycles. Oh my! Then we were off to Turin for a round of meetings through Thursday. But first, joined friend Maurizio Corbi for dinner at a wonderful old-style restaurant called Il Porto di Savona. It was very good to see him, especially following the celebration of Maurizio design career at Pininfarina this past August.

Day Two – Design and Heritage

We moved early on Tuesday. First we met with Roberto Giolito at Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Lancia/Abarth Heritage. Roberto has had a long career designing autos, including the Fiat 500. May of his conceptual designs have been to maximize the useable space inside of very small cars. We looked at some of Roberto’s designs on display at the Heritage museum. The Fiat Multipla was ingenious in how he designed a car where six people can comfortably sit in a seemingly small space. Roberto is the designer of the Concorso Best in Show award this year. This is a continuation of the annual Best in Show award being designed in Italy, by an accomplished designer, and presented to the winner at Concorso. Most recently, Fabrizio Giugiaro designed the award for the 2022 winner.

Mauto & Pininfarina visit

After saying our goodbyes to Roberto, we headed to Moncaliere to meet with the venerable Leonardo Fioravanti, but first we had a stop at MAUTO, probably my favorite automotive museum in Italy. There we saw old friend Davide Lorenzone, had a good discussion about events at the museum, and then said our goodbyes.
Seeing Sg Fioravanti was a treat. We had not seen him since we celebrated his career at Concorso 2010. Each time we went to Italy Leonardo was out of the country. On those visits we were able to see his sons Luca and Matteo, but no Leonardo. Our timing was good this year. It was wonderful to talk with Leonardo as we sat amongst his display of many of his design concepts. We also were able to get his inscription in our copies of his autobiography.

After parting with Leonardo, we had a quick meeting with Pininfarina. My oh my, what a place. My only regret was that I did not have a couple of weeks to look around Pininfarina. It is that good!

Day Three – Press Conference

Wednesday was press conference day. We had a press conference with over 40 journalists at Automobile Club d’Italia in Milan. ACI is modestly comparable to our AAA, but with more focus on the sporting side of automobiles, but still offering similar services to AAA. On dais was Roberto Giolito (Fiat Heritage), Raffaello Porro (Studio RPR), Tom McDowell, and Valentino Balboni who needs no introduction to Concorso Italiano enthusiasts. We were also honored with the presence of Angelo Sticchi Damiani, the President of ACI.
The press conference went extremely well. We wanted to get the message out about the Best in Show award and the Valentino Balboni award. It is important to disclose and remind the Italians about the very large celebration of Italian automobiles, Italian food, and Italian style. In other words, all things Italian.
At the conclusion of the conference there was a Q&A session. One interesting question was about the participation of female automotive enthusiasts. We invited the journalist to Concorso this year to see for herself how the “contagion” spreads to both genders.

The conference wrapped and we visited Zagato. They are always working on such interesting projects. Serendipity struck. Just as we were leaving we were able to get a first glimpse of a new Alfa Romeo Giulia arriving after a bit of a shakedown prior to delivering this beautifully modified car being delivered to its owner. We cannot share photos of the car as the owner had not yet seen it, but let us say that, well, we wouldn’t mind having that Alfa in our collection.

Day Four – GFG Showroom

The first meeting on Thursday morning reminded us that coffee (espresso is ubiquitous in Italy—often simply called “coffee”) isn’t always necessary to start the day. All one needs is a shot of Fabrizio Giugiaro and his infectious enthusiasm. The GFG showroom has so many fascinating cars, and so many projects in development, that an hour with Fabrizio is hardly enough time to learn all that his team is working on. The name Bizzarrini was most certainly mentioned multiple times.

In the afternoon we met with TUC. They are developing some incredible technology that has the potential to tremendously reduce the costs of manufacturing and assembling large automotive production runs. There was only so much they could disclose, but this looked like a well-capitalized technology play, responsibly run, with some interesting potential.