VILLA D'ESTE STYLE 2013
The Grand Hotel Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, on the manicured shores of the Lake of Como, is one of the best scenarios in the world for truly supreme classic cars. The 'Concorso d'Eleganza', held every year at the end of May, is very probably the most refined event of this type in the whole world; the 'Villa d'Este Style' event is quite different as it gathers every year (in 2013 it was Sunday 21 April) a handful of those exquisite Alfa Romeo proudly carrying that same name. It is really ultra-exclusive, as it is not even a single-Marque but a single-model meeting. We are speaking here of one of the most beautiful designs of the Milanese firm of Touring.....
Marco Makaus and some of the team developing the 'Villa d'Este Style' concept. This is a sort of very private Heaven on Earth, everything is extremely elegant, just the place where a real gentleman can speak about splendid cars for hours with anyone and at the same time enjoy a very well-made Martini cocktail
This is the kind of ambience that welcomes you in the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este....
Seen from above, the Alfa Romeo Villa d'Este looks stunning. A timeless design that looks perfectly at home on the shores of the most elegant lake in the whole world
From left to right Francesco Gandolfi, a great car collector/ connoisseur and owner of a fine 'Villa d'Este'; I am between Giovanni and Alberto Bianchi Anderloni, sons and grandsons of the Bianchi Anderlonis that made the Milanese firm such a legend in the classic automotive world. They run the excellent 'Registro Internazionale Touring Superleggera' as well....and they're wonderful fellows to have a chat with
A breathtaking view of an Italian masterpiece
A Bristol 409 looks very nice in the refined gardens of the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este gardens. Pity about the rain showers, but you can't escape this in Cernobbio
A classic view
SUMMARY
The Bologna-Villa d'Este-Bologna trip was 700 kms long and we found some really nasty thunderstorms during the Saturday leg of the journey (Bologna-Cernobbio). The 409 went like a watch and I can only recommend those Vredestein radials as being perfect even in heavy rain. I checked the oil and water levels Sunday morning and added 1/2 kilo of synthetic oil
