Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS “Villa d’Este”, the last of the handmade models

Here is a wonderful 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS “Villa d’Este” 1949, one of the last cars that the company – founded in Milan in 1910 – made in an artisanal way.

Designed by Carlo Felice Bianchi “Cici” Anderloni (1916-2003), it was produced in only thirty-six units between 1940 and 1952. But why is it called “Villa d’Este”? Because, in the year of its debut, it won the “Gran Premio Referendum” of the Concorso d’eleganza Villa d’Este, an event named after the Cernobbio Hotel on Lake Como, which had been inaugurated in 1929.

Born under the star of elegance, each unit was created by hand and featured small finishing details that made it absolutely unique and different from the others.

One 6C 2500 SS “Villa d’Este”, with “Superleggera” body by Milan’s Carrozzeria Touring, even appeared in Pasquale Festa Campanile’s “Il corpo della ragassa”, a controversial 1979 film adapted from the book of the same name by Gianni Brera.