Forza Italia 2021 – Edizione Palazzo di Rozalin
THE SHOW IS BACK ON THE ROAD
Last weekend hosted the tenth edition of the annual Forza Italia meeting. It was not annual this time, though, as due to the worldwide pandemic last year gathered Italian automotive fans in a socially distanced way – through an online event with a catchy name ‘A Distanza’. This year the show got back on the road and despite having a question mark hanging over it due to still prevailing coronavirus restrictions, it eventually came true to the delight of all the fans.
It was because of the above that the event this year was fully ticketed, with limited number of crews and visitors allowed to enter the premises of the exhibition. Attendance was capped at 350 teams and sold out well before the meeting. The hunger of meeting like-minded Italian aficionados and coming to an in-person event was strong and I would argue if anyone was expecting otherwise.
RETURN TO ROZALIN
The background for the exhibition stayed in the typical canon of a stylish location with a large garden, drawing similarities from the best Italian venues for its World-class counterparts. This year Forza Italia came back to the Rozalin Palace, where it was hosted first and last in 2014. Comparing to Palace Alexandrinum of 2018 and 2019 the premises were smaller, which added a special vibe to the gathering.
Once again against the organizers was the weather, which unfortunately was at its lowest throughout the week. The day was cloudy, cold and it was raining more often than not. Whilst it did not help to kick-start the event with the usual pace, as teams were hesitating when to come, the venue got crowded well before noon and both parking lots – or exhibition zones, if you like – were well packed. But what kind of selection did come?
THE TWO (UNEVEN) HALVES - ITALIAN AUTOMOBILES OF ALL KINDS
Traditionally for Forza Italia it attracts all kind of Italian automotive enthusiasts driving virtually any kind of vehicle coming from various brands produced under the bandiera tricolore. Welcomed are the pilots of Testarossas or vintage Giulias, but as much as folks driving Fiat Cinquecento or Alfa 147. The split was very well thought through and since the former, a bit rarer cars draw more attention, their designated exhibition was in front of the Palace. The latter lined up at a large lea just behind a tree espalier, making the two zones bursting at the seams!
Despite the weather, there was a surprisingly substantial number of classics that arrived. At some point at the Palace’s lawn, one could spot five Alfa Romeo Giulias in their best selection, including a 1300 TI, Giulia Super as well as the Biscione. Tipo 105 was also represented by stunning coupes in form of 1300 and 1600 Junior and the undisputed Queen of Alfas that day – the 1750 Veloce in a classic bianco su nero. Representing the Milanese brand were also a couple of 75 and 33 as well as a Spider and a couple of GTVs. This is as far as the classics go, but there were quite a few of more modern Giulias and Stelvio Quadrifoglio, including two special surprises brought by Alfa Romeo themselves. But on that, a little bit later.
The 1750 Veloce in a classic bianco su nero was doubtlessly the queen of vintage Alfas!
This year’s Forza Italia was rich also in the so-called stellar Italian brands of Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. There were two red Testarossas followed by a F355 F1 GTS and… a raspberry-aged-red 308GTB. Maserati was represented by a couple of GranTurismo, Ghibli and a 2.24V. However, the most interesting car with Tridente was doubtlessly the GranTurismo GT4 exhibited as a courtesy to Maserati Chodzen. Everyone could admire the racing beast from close-up and compare to a road-legal GranCabrio nearby. To wrap-up Lamborghini brought its Huracan EVO Spyder attracting lots of enthusiastic kids! What a line-up!
Other than that, there were many more superb automobiles to the ones described above. I personally admired blue Fiat 124 Spider, a mint-condition dark-red Fiat 850 as well as nicely kept-up dark green Fiat 127 by Fiat Varsavia. Even though to me the stars were hands down the Alfas, they had a strong competition. But there was one more car…
SPECTACULAR PREMIERE – GIULIA GTAM
Thanks to the organizers all participants could experience something truly special. The premises of Forza Italia served as grounds for the Polish premiere of the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and GTAm. The successor to the original GTA from 1965 was reborn in only 500 pieces, out of which 470 were already sold, six of which will drive on Polish roads.
Giulia GTAm is 100 kg lighter and has 30 horsepower more than Giulia Quadrifoglio!
The acronym GTAm stands for Gran Turismo Alleggerita Modificata, which basically means a lighter and modified Gran Turismo. Those words seem to describe the car to the letter, for it is 100 kilograms lighter and produces 30 horsepower more. It drew the crowd like a magnet and since this car is indeed really special, I decided to devote it a separate article here.
The GTAm stood one white Giulia Quadrifoglio (is this a measure unit now?) from a special Giulia 6C ‘Villa d’Este’ characterized by special rims and bespoke, exclusive interior. All three aligned the colours of the Italian flag, which was certainly intentional! Bravo!
A DAY AT FORZA – TOURISTIC RALLY, QUIZES, WATCHES, LECTURES AND MORE
All the good traditions were kept up this year as the club prepared many attractions for the visitors. Similarly to last years, forty of those who arrived in a vehicle could partake in a navigation rally with a carefully planned route and a good number of riddles to solve along the way. Those who did not manage to sign up or simply prefer other activities were taken care of, too!
After dropping your kids at a specially designated children playground zone one could dive in deep into various lectures about interesting topics such as the 50th anniversary of Fiat 127, an impromptu interview with Rafal Grzanecki – Alfa Romeo Poland’s brand director, or a lecture on sim-racing by Scuderia ForzaItalia. Sim-racing was special at this year’s event, as everyone could try it on a different level, too! There were two advanced simulator seats, where daredevils had the chance to become a pilot of a racing Alfa Romeo 155 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. I tried it… and it was much more difficult than I had thought!
There was also a corner for watch-lovers, with Zegarownia.pl bringing a few Swiss watches produced by Eberhard. One of those was unique – it was Alfa Romeo 110th Anniversary Edition produced in… yes, you guessed it, 110 pieces. This original and stylish mono-pusher chronograph was potentially the only one in Poland.
Eberhard 110th Alfa Romeo Anniversary Edition makes for a great mono-pusher chronograph!
CONCORSO D’ELEGANZA OR A SPED-UP STORYTELLING
One of the focal moments of each Forza Italia for the last couple of years was elegance concours, here having a bit of a twist when comparing to a true car beauty contest. Everyone can participate if signed up in advance and the results are not only based on how well kept or restored the car is, but rather on the combination of how interesting the car and owner duo is and how captivating story can they tell.
Whereas it usually is the most joyful part of the event the rain thwart all the plans and rather than in front of the Palace, the concours took place outside the banquet tent, to provide some shelter for both the jury and excited (and cold) visitors. After maybe a couple dozen cars were presented – ranging from a Cinquecento inherited after a grandad, through a loud Stilo wrapping up at stylishly dressed Gielda Klasyków crew in Fiat 130 Coupe – the winners were announced and the official part of the event was closed.
But if we are mentioning winners…
RICETTA SPECIALE, OR HOW TO ORGANISE A CAR EVENT
Well, if you ever thought anything can stop Jakub and his team from organizing an extraordinary event for automotive enthusiasts you were wrong. Against all odds, unknown of the possibilities due to the ongoing pandemic and in a cold rain they consistently deliver a stunningly warm atmosphere where people just respect each other and share the same passion.
Summing up the turn-up, the amount and variety of automobiles, all attractions for the visitors crowned by something as special as a GTAm premiere for the market it can easily be concluded Forza Italia 2021 once again became better than its previous editions. What comes next? I am sure we will see next year! A presto!
If you want to read the article about Alfa Romeo GTAm - you can access it here.
Text & Photos: Adam Pekala ©
