Cars and elegance on the catwalk at #casamia

NOVI LIGURE (AL), 10 May 2025 – For the third year running, Novi Ligure and the roads that wind their way up the rolling hills of lower Piedmont, amidst villas, gardens and expanses of vineyards, provided the backdrop for the “Club Italia a #casamia” concours d’elegance for classic cars. An appointment, by now a spring classic for members of the association of passionate vintage car collectors and their guests, which saw the driveway to the residence where the hosts welcomed guests transformed into a long and scenic catwalk along which the competing cars paraded. Almost forty, all strictly Italian accompanied by a “lady”, those that took part in this edition, admired and applauded by the numerous invited guests and awarded prizes by a quality jury chaired by Stefano Macaluso, the President of Club Italia. Winning the “Best State of Preservation” award was the 1966 Lancia Fulvia Coupé HF 1.3, ex Jolly Club, brought to the competition by member Roberto Rollino, a surgeon by profession and a driver in historical races for passion. A car that has not been modified since it stopped racing in the early 1970s, but only used, admired and applauded. The “Best Restoration” prize was awarded to a splendid Fiat Balilla 508 S Sport Spider “Coppa d’Oro” from 1934, a designation given to it after it won the first four places in the “Giro d’Italia” motor race that year. The car, as elegant and original as its designer, Mario Revelli di Beaumont, a Piedmontese count with the heart of an engineer and an eye on the future, considered the first free-lance designer in the history of the automobile, was “paraded” at #casamia by partner Marcello Gavio. And the 1955 Lancia B24 Spider America, a car produced in a total of 240 examples, 59 right-hand drive and 181 left-hand drive, driven by partner Piero Pissavini and of which, in 1957, Sports Cars Illustrated magazine wrote: “Its excellence is total, as it should be…”, could not fail to win the “Best of Show” award. An excellence and design born of the magic pencil of Battista Pinin Farina, the man capable of giving shape to the wind.

Three cars – the Lancia Fulvia Coupé HF 1.3, the Fiat Balilla 508 S Sport Spider and the Lancia B24 Spider America – that encapsulate sportiness, originality and elegance in their lines: three values that, combined with the art of know-how, best represent the excellence of Italian motoring that Club Italia and its members seek out and preserve to hand down to future generations of enthusiasts. In addition to the three Club Italia prizes, the hosts awarded the special “Friends of #casamia” prize to the beautiful Lancia Flaminia Super Sport Zagato with the characteristic “Kamm” tail driven by Giorgio Schön. And again a Lancia Flaminia, this time the Coupé Touring, presented Marina Schön with the cup reserved for “female drivers”. Prize also for the Ferrari 550 Maranello in Le Mans Blue livery and burgundy interior, a “very Club Italia style” colour combination by member Ettore Carello. Almost forty, all strictly Italian, cars were competing. Accompanying them was a “lady”, a very interesting 1961 Warwick GT, a car produced in only forty examples and driven by Francesco Traverso Tardy. So special and interesting that it turned a blind eye to its non-Italian character and earned it, in addition to applause, an award.

For the #casamia award to the “small utility cars that have made history”, the duel was between Monica Mondini and Nicola Solimena, the former with a first series Fiat Panda 4×4, the latter, accompanied by his very young niece Alessandra D’Amore, the youngest participant in the competition, with a first series Fiat 600. Two masterpieces of Italian design and designers – Giorgetto Giugiaro and Dante Giacosa – who, in different periods, “set Italy in motion and put it back into motion”. Winning the prize after a long and passionate discussion was the Fiat Panda 4×4 first series. Both cars deserved it, but at #casamia chivalry has not yet been killed by the car, and so, when in doubt, it was only right that the prize, together with a bouquet of flowers to colour the sunset, should go to Monica Mondini.

The day, which opened in the late morning at #casamia with the start of the mini car tour in the Gavi hills and continued with a lunch at the Villa Carolina Golf Club, ended, where it had begun, with a cocktail party. An occasion for a final toast to the winners and to the pleasure of sharing a passion for cars, beauty and elegance, with the thought that if you are lucky enough to take part in special days like this one, in the end, but not too much either, you are always a bit of a winner.