"Il Segno Alfa" Exhibition at the Milano Triennale

Every time I go to Milan on business, I always try to get in at least one Alfa Romeo-related activity. This year being the 100^th anniversary of the marque, there is currently a fun exhibition installed at the Milano Triennale called “il Segno Alfa,” or “the Sign of Alfa.”  The exhibit charts the history of the Milanese automaker as both a vessel and reflection of Italian culture in the 20^th century.  Each room of the show has one or two cars from a given era, surrounded by newspaper headlines and artifacts from that time period.

This exhibition is free to the public, and brings together some of the best cars from the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico into the heart of the city where more people can see them and enjoy them.  Automotive highlights from the exhibit are the incomparable 8C 2900B Aerodynamic coupe from Le Mans 1938, an Alfetta 159 GP car, as well as a Giulia Sprint GTA, a Montreal, and even the new 8C Competizione, among others.  There are some truly wonderful original vintage posters on the wall, including an original 1932 Monaco GP Poster by Falcucci – an image so often reproduced that seeing a real one in person produced that almost anti-climactic response you get from the Mona Lisa or any other over-exposed masterpiece.  Each room also had a small selection of design objects from each decade, as well as monitors showing the enormous amount of TV and cinema presence Alfa has had over the years.  It’s a fun exhibit to browse, and will be a lot easier on wives and girlfriends than going to the Alfa Museum (aka the fortress of Alfisti Geekdom).

On the negative side, I found the exhibit overly nostalgic and rather lacking in depth, and I was sort of hoping to find more genuine academic effort in tying the automobile to cultural and industrial developments in Italy in the 20^thCentury, rather than just juxtaposing various objects from the same era together.  To put this in American context, it is as if they put a ‘57 Chevy in a room with Elvis records and pictures of drive-ins, but they failed to really explain what the car meant to people at the time, how it changed their lives, or to go beyond the superficial nostalgia effect.  However, I think this exhibit might have more emotional impact for the intended home-grown Italian audience, as a reminder of what Alfa Romeo has meant to Italy over the years, and maybe as a foreigner I missed out on a little of that.

 As a collection of compelling cars and really cool artifacts, the exhibit is definitely worth seeing if you are in Milan in the next few weeks, especially for those who don’t have the time to go out to the Alfa Museum.  I couldn’t help but think, though, that this exhibit was like walking into a really tastefully done car commercial more than a serious intellectual discourse (befitting an institution like the Milano Triennale) on how the car irrevocably changed the face of Italy just as it did the USA.  But looking at special cars is always a treat, no matter what the context!

FULL GALLERY HERE.

The exhibit runs through October 10, so hurry over!  Admission is FREE.