Concorso d'Eleganza

Bus to Cernobbio today. Another bright sunny day so we had decided to go to the Concorso d'Eleganza at the Villa Erba. This is a car show which takes place over three days, partially held at the Villa D'Este, one of the most prestigious hotels in Italy. The Villa D'Este part of the show is by invitation only, and attended by various celebrities from around the world.

The public part of the show is a short distance away at the Villa Erba and takes place over Saturday and Sunday. The show is sponsored by BMW, and they had brought along a large collection of Rolls Royce cars and a few Minis

Most of the show is in the gardens of the Villa and the cars are privately owned and exhibited. I suspect many may be owned by elderly rock stars!. The majority of the private exhibits were Italian cars, though the registration plates showed the UK was well represented among the exhibitors. There were many Ferraris, Maseratis and a few Alfa Romeos, even one Jaguar. Several vintage Rolls Royces and other cars of the 1930s and earlier, some with the exhibitors dressed in period costume.

After the visit to the Concorso d'Eleganza we decided to return to Lenno by boat. While we were waiting for our ferry, near the terminal there was a small parade of people wearing Renaissance period costume. We were not sure what that was about. The costumes seemed to cover all ranks of Renaissance society. In Cernobbio there were a lot of people for the car show, and many had arrived in quite fancy cars, again Ferraris were well in evidence.