On the territory of a five-star hotel, Villa d’Este on the banks of the island. Como, 1-3 October, hosted one of the most prestigious elegance competitions in the world of retro cars.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the organizers of one of the oldest automotive events in Europe, held traditionally since 2011 in the second half of May, had to put in a lot of effort to hold the competition in the current situation. Due to the restrictions in force in Italy, the organizers had to abandon the traditional car parade, vintage motorcycle competition and hold the event behind closed doors.
Despite all the difficulties associated with organizing the competition, the selection committee did a great job, selecting about 50 cars that allow tracing the history of the automotive industry of the twentieth century from the 1920s to the 1990s.
Traditionally, all participants in the competition are divided into classes, and an expert jury headed by Lorenzo Ramaciotti chooses the best car of the Best of Show competition, combining beauty, passion and uniqueness.
The best car, according to the jury, this year was the 1956 Ferrari 250 GT TdF, presented in the competition by Brian Ross from the USA (TdF — Tour de France multi-day race, ed.). One of 14 cars designed with a Scaglietti body without air vents in the C-pillars, after extensive restoration, it took part in several elegance competitions before being scrutinized by the jury of the Italian Elegance Competition. In 2006, Ferrari competed in the Cavallino Classic (Best of Show GT and Platinum) and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (third in its class).
An equally important award of the competition is the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este. This year the victory went to the expert on pre-war Lancia cars and the author of the book «Lancia Dilambda, the Blue Shadow» Filippo Sole, who submitted the sky-blue Lancia Dilambda Series 1 (produced in 1930) to the competition.
Cover: RM Sotheby’s