The Automotoclub Storico Italiano is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a double event on Lake Garda, between Bardolino and the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera. On Saturday, May 16, historic motoring will take center stage during a day combining culture, art and automotive passion in places that symbolize both the birth of ASI and the Futurist vision of Italy.
The celebrations will begin in Bardolino, where ASI’s founding act was signed in 1966. Piazza Matteotti will host the Italian national anthem performed by the Banda Filarmonica, while Palazzo Gelmetti will welcome an exhibition dedicated to historic scale modeling. Alongside a display of sixty historic vehicles, a conference focused on the evolution of automotive design will also take place. One of the key moments of the morning will be the unveiling of a commemorative plaque celebrating the association’s 60 years.
In the afternoon, the event will move to the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera, the historic residence of Gabriele d’Annunzio and a symbolic place representing the connection between art, modernity and speed. Here, visitors will experience a cultural journey exploring the relationship between automobiles and Futurism through exhibitions, talks and artistic performances.
Among the highlights is the inauguration of the exhibition “Futurism and the Myth of Speed”, accompanied by the theatrical performance “Inclinata progreditur. Dialogue with an Automobile”, featuring actress and art historian Francesca Cavallin together with art critic and historian Carlo Vanoni.
The connection between d’Annunzio and the automotive world is one of the central themes of the event. For the Italian poet and writer, engines and speed represented a new aesthetic expression, symbolizing modernity and the drive toward the future in perfect harmony with the Futurist movement. D’Annunzio was also famously responsible for transforming the Italian word “automobile” from masculine to feminine.
With this double celebration between Veneto and Lombardy, ASI honors not only its sixty years of history, but also the cultural role of historic motoring in Italy, capable of telling the story of territories, art and social evolution through automobiles and motorcycles that defined entire eras.