Italy Celebrates The Most Stylish Cars In The World!

MARANELLO, ITALY – May 29, 2009: Museums across Italy have joined forces to celebrate 110 years of the most stylish cars in the world, with the country’s leading museums organizing displays of the most celebrated cars produced in Italy and headlined by a special display the Galleria Ferrari, the official museum of Italy’s legendary super car maker.

Under the banner of “L’Automobile Italiana” (The Italian Automobile), the nationwide series of exhibitions will attract car lovers from around the world and will run throughout the northern summer until 31 October 2009.

Italian cars are international symbols of style, class, elegance, technology and performance, and “L’Automobile Italiana” brings together the great iconic Italian marques as part of a voyage of discovery of the most exclusive products of Italian ingenuity between 1899, the year in which Fiat was founded, and the present day.

The exhibition illustrates the extent to which the automobile has changed our way of life and customs at various turning points in history, and the influence of creative thought and the economy on the evolution of the cars themselves.

It holds a mirror up to an entire era, revealing the advertisements, the aspirations, the sense of freedom and escape, and scientific application involved. This is the story of an entire century told by looking at the car, which probably more than anything else has characterised its direction and fuelled the dreams of every strata of society.

In its role as official Ferrari museum and home to Maranello’s permanent single-seater and GT collections, the Galleria Ferrari has for the occasion decided to pay special homage to such technological masterpieces as the 1907 FIAT 130 HP, the 1954 Lancia Aurelia B 24, the 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B and the 1948 Maserati A6 1500 as well staging the “110 Years of the World’s Most Beautiful Cars” exhibition of photography with original film clips produced by the various marques.

The Galleria Ferrari is taking part in the exhibition in collaboration with other prestige collections which include: the Museo dell’Automobile di Torino at the Turin Esposizioni centre, the Collezione Umberto Panini at Corlo di Formigine (just a few kilometres outside Modena), the Museo Nicolis dell’Auto, della Tecnica, della Meccanica at Villafranca near Verona, and the Centro Storico Fiat, home to the designs and actual vehicles (destined for air, sea and land) produced by the renowned multi-faceted Italian company over the years. Other museums across Italy will include special “L’Automobile Italiana” presentations within their normal displays.

Until October 31, visitors will enjoy reduced entry fees at the other museums involved in the exhibition when they produce the ticket purchased at the first one they visit. Most importantly of all, they will be able to book very special visits to two private collections: the Collezione Umberto Panini, which houses one of the most complete collections of Maseratis in the world, and the Centro Storico Fiat, which opened in 1963 and is based in the first extension made to the workshops on Corso Dante in Turin, where Fiat began life.