Braving Bad Weather At Italy’s Newest Concours

Photography by Federico Bajetti

A Concours d’Elegance is an often wonderful event, held with gorgeous cars in a breathtaking location, filled with sharply-dressed attendees. The smells of a concours are wonderful, to: gasoline and, usually, pure tobacco. The sights? Bright shades of color coming from the cars and their surroundings, mixing up with the wonderful light of the sun as the day goes on.

The atmosphere is one that smells like passion, knowledge of classics, and relaxation—unless it rains for a day, and the cars look like they just ended a rally stage!

But should one be intimidated by just water falling from the sky? Absolutely not. If a car gets dirty, there is always the time to clean it. Do you remember the Ferrari 166 Touring Barchetta that won Villa d’Este a couple of weeks ago? If so, picture it with mud sprayed all over its lower bodywork, with drops of water slowly damaging its paint job!

Remember, also, some of the cars participating at Pininfarina’s 85th anniversary celebrations? Same deal as the 166. At the first Concours d’Elegance held at the Reggia di Venaria, no car was spared from the rain and mud.

Did these two things ruin the event? Not at all.

The sight at the entrance was quite breathtaking, as Pagani cars from the yearly Vanishing Point Tour were parked in the square right in front of the grounds’ main residence. Are classics the only cars able to tell a story with their unique appearance? I thought so, until I first saw a Pagani: they’re so special.

Right after the entrance to the event, there was the real treat: more than 100 cars, all parked in the wonderful wet gardens of the Reggia di Venaria. I could spend countless words describing each one of them, but I’ll let Federico’s pictures speak for me instead.

The Concorso at the Reggia di Venaria was well worth it, even if it did rain all day, and we ended up soaking wet—when do you see cars like this braving the elements?