Villa d’Este Style first past the post lockdown finish line

In this very particular year, the excitement of entering Villa d’Este to admire vintage cars was even more special than usual. It happened on Saturday, 27th June when the ninth edition of Villa d’Este Style was held, the gathering dedicated to Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Coupé Villa d’Este cars that, symbolically, were able to return to the place where their legend began. Before the cars, however, well-deserved applause is in order to those who believed in it, and moved on with the event organization, despite all adversities.

The magnificent front end of the Alfa Romeo 2500 SS Villa d’Este designed by Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni from the Milan-based Touring Carrozzeria in the late 1940s.

“I was the first to see one of my events cancelled: The Ice in Sankt Moritz scheduled for the 29th of February cancelled by the authorities on the 28th!” says Marco Makaus, “With Villa d’Este Style, it feels like I’ve finally closed the circle, since it is the first international post-lockdown event. On my own, however, I could never have achieved this: without the help and optimism of the Villa d’Este Group, of President Giuseppe Fontana and the General Manager, Danilo Zucchetti, it would have been impossible.”

Congratulations and thank you. In the words of the poet Dante Alighieri at the end of his journey to the afterlife, “e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle” (and thence we came forth to see again the stars).

An authentic spectacle, in the flowery setting of Villa d’Este, various Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 models with bodywork made by different designers.

In 1949, the new Alfa Romeo 2500 SS mechanical Coupé model designed by Carrozzeria Touring in Milan, won the Concorso di Eleganza on the shores of Lake Como and, from that moment, was identified as Villa d’Este. 32 were produced, 18 of which have survived to this day. “Usually, says  Makaus, we manage to have a dozen or so for each edition, but, this year we knew that only those geographically closest could participate. So, we extended the invitation to our friends who own a 6C 2500 with different bodywork, so we can admire the different styles possible on the same mechanics”.

In this view of the Villa d’Este Style exhibition we also see a 6C 2500 Touring example with two-tone bodywork.

A comparison that showed just how innovative and ground-breaking the style, created by Giovanni Bianchi Anderloni, Mr. Touring, of Villa d’Este was. In addition to six Villa d’Este, two Coupes made by the same Touring were exhibited, along with two Cabriolets and a special Pinin Farina body sedan, a Golden Arrow and a GT SS whose body panels were mounted directly in the Alfa Romeo factory body shop.

The charm of the 6C 2500 Villa d’Este lies in the encounter between sportiness and refined elegance.