CLASS OVERVIEWConcorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2023

THE CLASSES OF 2023

Nothing is more ephemeral than beauty, goes the familiar adage. And that is indeed very often the case. But things don’t necessarily have to be like that. This is highlighted at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este by the lovingly curated selection of automobile classics drawn from more than 100 years of design and engineering history. Each participant epitomises a highly individual facet of this great cultural heritage handed down to us by past generations. Moreover, looking after the vehicles themselves, their authentic and faithful restoration and maintenance represents a sublime level of artistry. A historic artefact like an automobile can only appeal as truly authentic if its elegance maintains contact with the traces of time. It is important to bear in mind that these are working automobiles and not static sculptures, because this is the only way of preserving our automobile heritage as a cultural asset. Seen from this perspective, beauty is unambiguously about one criterion: never standing still, never waiting on the side-lines. Rather, it’s about movement, excitement and surprise. Every analysis, each judgement is only effective from a clearly defined starting position and it requires a specific perspective that does justice to the automobile treasures presented in this contest. And that is why the Selecting Committee of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este creates entirely new classes every year, each of which invites an unusual and unconventional focus, and salutes the participating vehicles through the prism of automobile culture.

• CLASS A The Fast and the Formal: Pre-war high speed Luxury
• CLASS B Grande Vitesse: Pre-war Weekend Racers
• CLASS C Incredible India: The dazzling Motoring Indulgences of the mighty Maharajas
• CLASS D Porsche at 75: Delving into the Stuttgart Legend’s iconic and eccentric Back Catalogue
• CLASS E Granturismo: Experimenting with the post-war European GT
• CLASS F That ‘made in Italy’ Look: Styles which conquered new Worlds
• CLASS G A Century of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Heroes of the most famous Race in the World
• CLASS H Here comes the Sun: ‘Topless’ done differently!