Press Release
Alfa Romeo Spider. A story of open air emotions
One hundred and thirty of the loveliest “open” Alfa Romeos ever built, convertibles and sports cars, and many of the cars they were derived from, accepted Alfa’s invitation to celebrate the fortieth birthday of the legendary Duetto at the event “Alfa Romeo Spider. A story of open air emotions”.
It was a line-up of amazing cars which paid tribute to the creativeness of Alfa Romeo styling and of Italian coachbuilders, and told the long story of success as that began in 1910 with the first open-top, the Alfa 24 HP. Almost a century of elegance and sportiness, elements that continue to amaze and attract the public, and which reappear, perfectly balanced, in the design of the recent Alfa Spider, which was voted “Cabrio of the Year 2006” by the “Comité Cabriolet” at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. The new model was displayed in Milan’s central Piazza del Duomo while the caravan was in the city where the event had its start, as a tribute to its forebears.
Early in the morning, on Saturday May 27, Alfa Romeo welcomed Alfisti from all over Europe to Villa San Carlo Borromeo at Senago, and the cars lined up in the villa’s beautiful gardens in an exciting, spectacular display. In front of the Villa were a number of superb examples from the official “Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring” team, loaned by the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum. They included the splendid 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport, the car that won the “1000 Miglia” that same year with Campari and Ramponi, the 6C 1750 Gran Sport which won the Mille Miglia in 1930 with Nuvolari and Guidotti, the 1900 Sport Spider of 1954, and several cars which took part in the latest edition just a few days earlier, still in their Mille Miglia livery.
At the end of the accreditation formalities, the caravan set off for Milan, escorted by the police and the staff of the organisation, slipping easily through the Milan traffic to line up in Piazza del Duomo in front of the Cathedral and in Via dell’Arcivescovado, to the delight of the many fans who turned out to watch.
Before lunch, Mgr Ronchi greeted the participants on behalf of Mgr Dionigi Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, and blessed the cars and all those present. At 3 pm, the journalist Gaetano De Rosa presented the cars to the huge crowd that filled the square, narrating details and anecdotes, historical achievements that have made Alfa Romeo great in Italy and all over the world. He ran through the history of the open sports cars from the “Casa del Portello”: from the first Alfa 24 HP of 1910 to the 1750 SS and GS that won the Mille Miglia in 1929 and 1930, elegant Cabrios like the 6C 2500 of the Forties with bodies by the best designers of the day, and the Giulietta and Duetto, iconic Italian products of the Fifties and Sixties.
It was also interesting to see some of the saloons whose chassis were used as the basis for the Coupés and for the various open cars; for example, the saloons that generated the 6C 2500, 1900, Giulietta and Giulia. There was obviously a huge group of Duettos, whose owners’ clubs answered the appeal by arriving in numbers from all over Italy to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of their favourite. The car was created in 1966 by G.B. Pininfarina, and became an icon for people who wanted to be noticed but without ostentation. It is an aggressive but elegant car, which remained in production, with just a few stylistic and technical changes, right up to 1994.
The weekend programme included some exciting moments such as the transfer to Orta S. Giulio, with a police escort which stopped the traffic at every intersection to allow the caravan to reach Lake Orta. In the course of a fantastic evening at the San Rocco Hotel on the shore of this beautiful lake, a moment from Alfa Romeo history was remembered. During the second world war, Alfa Romeo had to transfer some operations from the Portello plant because it had been seriously damaged in the air raids, and Orta was chosen as the home of the design offices and as a shelter for the legendary Alfetta 158.
Pasquale Oliveri, Head of Historic Motoring at Alfa Romeo, offered all the guests a book about one of Alfa Romeo’s greatest designers, Giuseppe Busso, which focuses on this period, seen through the eyes of one of the most representative figures, and a precious memento for model collectors, a scale reproduction of the new Alfa Spider, built by the LOM fast prototyping process (laminate object manufacturing). The new Alfa Spider was also on display at Orta San Giulio, attracting the attention of the many Italian and foreign tourists present. The event ended on Sunday, May 28, after an enjoyable ride through breathtaking scenery over the Mottarone pass and round Lake Maggiore to the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Arese, the Alfista “temple” where the celebrations came to a close after lunch with a prize-giving ceremony; awards were distributed to the car collectors but also to long-serving Alfa Romeo managers whose work in the past has contributed to today’s success.
The event was sponsored by the Milan City Council and the Town Council of Orta San Giulio.
