Alfa Romeo has always focused attention on the brand’s history and stylistic
legacy. In 2004, for the 50th anniversary of the Giulietta, Milan was chosen as
the ideal setting for the celebrations. And Alfa has now chosen Milan again, as
the setting for “Alfa Romeo Spider. A story of open air emotions”, marking the
40th anniversary of the Duetto and the market launch of the new Alfa Spider. The
event intends to offer an overview of the long history of open Alfa Romeo sports
cars, and hopes to bring together 120 Spider and Cabriolet models to underline
Alfa’s vocation for sporty driving, a sense of freedom and a constant striving for
beauty.
The programme starts with a rendezvous early on Saturday, May 27 at Senago,
in the beautiful gardens of Villa San Carlo Borromeo from where the caravan will
set off for Milan, with a Police escort. There the cars will be exhibited to the
public in Piazza del Duomo from about 11 am. At 3 pm all the cars will be
presented to the public, an unmissable event. The weekend programme will
include exciting moments such as the transfer to Orta S. Giulio for a fantastic
evening at the San Rocco Hotel on the lakeshore on Saturday evening, when a
moment from Alfa Romeo history linked to the lake will be remembered. During
the second world war, Alfa Romeo had to transfer some operations from the
Portello plant because it had been seriously damaged during the air raids, and
chose Orta as the home of the design offices and a shelter for the legendary
Alfetta 158. The event will conclude on Sunday May 28, at the Alfa Romeo
Historical Museum, the Alfista “temple”, where the prize-giving ceremony will be
held.
There will be a historical parade of Alfa’s open sports cars: from the first Alfa
24 HP of 1910 to the 1750 SS and GS which won the Mille Miglia in 1929 and
1930. But the unmistakable Alfa Romeo design school will also be on parade:
from elegant cabriolets like the 6C 2500 of the 1940s with bodies by the best
coachbuilders of the day, to the Giulietta and Duetto, symbols of Italian output in
the Fifties and Sixties.
In particular the event will celebrate the fortieth birthday of the Duetto, which was
created in 1966 by G.B. Pininfarina, and became an iconic car for people who
wanted to be noticed but without ostentation. It is an aggressive but elegant car,
which remained in production, with a few stylistic and technical changes, right
up to 1994. The members of the more than 300 Alfa Romeo Clubs all over the
world have been invited to the event, and several foreign teams with outstanding
cars are expected.
The official “Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring” team will participate with several
precious cars loaned by the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum. They will include a
splendid 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport, the car that won the “1000
Miglia” that same year with Campari-Ramponi, the 6C 1750 Gran Sport which
won the Mille Miglia in 1930 with Nuvolari and Guidotti, the 1952 Disco Volante
prototypes, the 1955 750 Competizione and the 1954 1900 Sport Spider.
It will be an extraordinary event, a celebration of a type of car that people have
always dreamt of owning. These masterpieces will be accompanied by about
ten Alfa Spiders (crowned “Cabrio of the Year 2006” by the Cabriolet Committee,
a jury of 23 specialist journalists from 12 countries), which will be driven by
motoring journalists and lifestyle magazines.
Local Alfa Romeo dealers will also offer visitors a chance to try the Alfa Spider,
Alfa Brera, Alfa 159 saloon and Sportwagon, either at the Villa San Carlo
Borromeo in Senago or in Orta San Giulio, where the Spider will be on display in
the picturesque square facing the island of San Giulio.
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