Here’s Why One Of The Coolest Collections Has No Ferraris

Photos of Corrado Lopresto by Jared Paul Stern; publication photos supplied by Skira

Editor’s note: Lopresto’s curator, Michele P. Casiraghi, wrote in to help correct a few errors. The text has been updated accordingly. He also mentioned the collection’s newest addition is a Stola S81 “Stratos” prototype from 2000.

Milanese architect and entrepreneur Corrado Lopresto is the very definition of dashing. I first encountered him at the 2012 Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance, where he took home the “People’s Choice” award for his stunning 1931 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport Spider Aprile. Two years before that, he’d won Best in Show at Hilton Head for another knockout Alfa: a 1942 6C 2500 SS.

Strictly bush league stuff where he’s concerned, though—to date he’s racked up some 200 concours awards including 50 Best In Shows, and he’s the only man on Earth to have won the to-kill-for Coppa d’Oro at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este four times. He probably uses Pebble Beach trophies as paperweights. Of course, Lopresto’s sensational collection of 100-plus cars is comprised of Italian classics – but not a single one of them is a Ferrari or Maserati.

Which makes it all the more interesting, of course.

He favors Alfas and Lancias, Fiats, and Isotta Fraschinis. His collection isn’t open to the public, but you can get an eyeful of it in Best In Show: Italian Masterpieces from the Lopresto Collection just published by Skira. “I’m willing to pay for a shape, for a design, for the person who’s behind it,” the book quotes. “I don’t want to pay [for] the prestige of a particular marque.”

In it, you can trace an obsession which began at the age of 18 with his first acquisition, a Fiat Balilla Lusso. His primary passion is for one-off coachbuilt examples from the famed houses of Bertone, Pininfarina, Carrozzeria Touring and more, but he also has a few prized prototypes and chassis no. 1 models, including an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Bertone Prototype and an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Pininfarina Prototype.

“In the 1980s, when everyone was betting on the classics, I chose prototypes, those cars where talent and brilliance is expressed best,” Lopresto writes in the book, which retails for about $90 and is a suitably elegant bit of coffee table ballast. His earliest car is a 115-year-old year old Isotta Fraschini Tipo 1902 that was once in the Ford Museum, to the “youngest” car in the book, a 1973 DeTomaso Pantera II 7x Montella prototype.

Both damned sexy in their own way.

If you’d like a copy of the book, the easiest route is simply to email the collection directly—they’ll figure out shipping and send one out to you. Email info@loprestocollection.com for more details.